Football and Music

The kings of weird lyrics and silly dances have made a return: The Sultans Of Ping FC will be releasing a new single on December 7th.

Oh come on you know the Sultans.

All right I’ll give you one line and I bet you’ll be singing - or be reminded of the song straight away:

“Where’s Me Jumper ?”

See. Told you.

The Irish band were footie mad and recorded a few related songs. Below are some mp3’s courtesy of http://ping.fishtank.org.uk of the Sultans (as they renamed themselves later, but without success, they disbanded soon after) live in concert and studio sessions for John Peel and for Dublin’s 2FM:

» Sultans of Ping FC - Give Him A Ball (And A Yard Of Grass) - Peel Session     (Before the song John Peel says: "There are no Scots in the Sultans Of Ping" ?!)

Sample lyrics: “Give him a ball & a yard of grass/He’ll give you a move with perfect pass/Give him a ball & a yard of space/He’ll give you a move with godly grace”

» Sultans Of Ping - Kick Me With Your Leather Boots (Live At The Savoy Cork)

Sample lyrics: “Socrates and Selnopenhaur are really very nice./ Told you ’bout Ardiles and you said you’d read him twice. /Your stunning social conscience has me running round the bend./Kick me with your leather boots, /Kick me hard again.”

…and the one you’ve been waiting for:

» Sultans Of Ping FC - Where’s Me Jumper ? (2FM Studio)

Sample lyrics: “Dancing in the disco, bumper to bumper/ Wait a minute, where’s me jumper, where’s me jumper, where’s me jumper, where’s me jumper, where’s me jumper ?”

Ah they don’t write them like that any more…

You can download more of the Sultans live and session recordings (with titles such as: Wake Up And Scratch Me, Red Cadillac and Black Moustache, Riot at the Sheepdog Trials) via: http://ping.fishtank.org.uk/mp3s/

October 11th is the next John Peel Day.

This post is to commemorate a man who was as passionate about his football as he was about his music.

Peely was a hardcore Liverpool fan but in his later years and because of where he lived, John wandered down to Portman Road and watched them play too. (Don’t know why, must have been punishing himself for something).

There will be the Third Annual John Peel Memorial Football Tournament and Concert taking place at the Liverpool Football Club Academy and later on at the new Picket.

List of links that you should go and explore even more:

» Radio 1 - John Peel Day

» Right Time, Right Place, Wrong Speed. The life of John Robert Parker Ravenscroft

»John Peel Everyday (an excellent blog with loads of related items and links to other John Peel blogs, some of them which post entire Peel Sessions)

My contribution to the Peel Sessions is by a band that came from Liverpool that were football mad. In 1986 whilst on tour in the USA they all watched England play in the World Cup in a hotel room on a Spanish language channel. Apparently the room was packed and the American road crew were puzzled at these guys going mental watching some weird foreign language sport on the TV.

Two of the band were actually born in Yorkshire and the lead singer still follows dirtyLeeds. The drummer (his brother), even though he was from Beverley and then lived in Liverpool, for some reason which still escapes me to this day, supports Spurs.
The lead guitarist was a born and bred Evertonian. The bass player weirdly for a Scouser, didn’t like football. But this was probably done on purpose to irritate the others because they did.

Peel Session recorded on 6th of May 1981, broadcast on the 12th:

» Messages From The Rings Of Saturn

» Talking (It’s Not Me Talking)

» I Ran

» Committed