Diamond Lights…
That’s what I should have called this place.
Football and Music… What was I thinking. Dull as ditch water.
I know it does what it says on the tin but if I called it “Diamond Lights”, people in the know would have found us.
Hang on has anybody registered that name… Damn. They have. Football and Music it stays then.
Where was I going with this…? Ah I can’t remember…
Oh about those two Spurs and England footballers, that Top Of The Pops appearance and that now iconic tune which down the years has constantly been sneered upon, but today I am going to call Parlay. It is about time that we finally recognise and celebrate this piece of footballing/musical history.
Yes yes it’s still crap. But for myself, I remember this Number 12 hit… how many of you can boast of that… fondly and I say give them a break.
Yes they had rolled up sleeves in that ToTP performance, yes he had a mullet… Look please STOP.
If you look at other singing footballers of that era you will realise that compared to them, this one stands above all the others.
I submit into evidence M’Lud: A young Mr Gascoigne – or his chum – Jones, Vincent Peter.
So then if you had to choose between Fog On The Tyne or Woolly Bully or this one which would it be ?
(No don’t answer that.)
Looking back, what did they themselves think ?
Well there’s no comments from the Hoddle, but the Waddle has talked about it a few times.
» He was quoted in an Observer article which was taking a look at the spiritual one not long after Spurs dismissed him after a dismal run. In this piece Andrew Anthony looked at if it was Hoddle’s arrogance (in relation to his ‘what you sow you reap’ comment which got him out of the England job) which pretty much doomed him in his managerial career.
Chris Waddle defended his old Spurs and England midfield counterpart:
“…Yet Waddle disputes the popular image of Hoddle as arrogant. ‘It’s not arrogance, it’s confidence. I know people a lot larger than Glenn. I think he’s down to earth. He’s not a centre of attention. He’s not Billy Big Time.’ Waddle thinks that Hoddle has an inner core of self-belief that protects him from the uncertainties that afflict most other mortals. He cites a Top of the Pops performance of ‘Diamond Lights’ – the embarrassing pop record the duo made together in 1987 – as a memorable example of Hoddle’s sang-froid. ‘I was petrified,’ says Waddle, ‘he was confident. He enjoyed it. He’s a positive guy.’
As to what Chris thought of the actual single – The Guardian’s Small Talk caught up with him in 2003, asking him first what music he was listening to at the time:
What was the last record or CD you bought?
“That would have been the Good Charlotte album [Small Talk later checks with its young, heavily-pierced cousin to discover it’s that Nu-metal-type business]. I’m getting into them, and blink-182, New Found Glory, Bowling For Soup, that kind of stuff. But I can also listen to something like Simply Red. The only thing I don’t like is reggae and all this rap stuff.”Odd that you and Glenn opted for the soft-rock balladeering of Diamond Lights, then. Any regrets?
“None at all, but I’m not joking when I say that standing on that stage was more nerve-wracking than taking that penalty in Turin. I’d sung in the bath and in the car, like everyone does, but to actually stand in front of millions of people on TV and do something you’ve never done at any great level before, well it was absolutely petrifying. It never amazes me how many people remember that record. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did a cover version of it.”Gazza, maybe?
“Oh no! Although it might be good if he covered it so people would finally realise that our version wasn’t so bad after all.”Oh but it was, Chris. What impresses your two kids [boy 9, girl 15] more: Diamond Lights on TOTP, or your achievements as a footballer?
“Well they both spend more time going on about the fact that I once… well… I used to have a mullet.”Did you really?
“I did, and when they see shots of me at Spurs or Marseille with it long at the back, they just can’t accept that mullets were in back then. I never regretted having one, before you ask. In fact it was funny that after I had mine done, 50% of professional footballers were sporting the same hair style. Same at Marseille, all the crowd copied that hair cut straight away.”They’re a mad bunch! Returning to Diamond Lights, was there a follow up?
“There was, it was a song called (It’s) Goodbye. Quite fitting really ‘cos Glenn had just left Spurs for Monaco. In my opinion it was a far better song with a video and everything, but then Glenn moved to France and because of the tax reasons he couldn’t come back to promote it. It got shelved, which was a shame, because it was a lot faster and a much better record.”
Finally then to THE song:
» Glenn & Chris – Diamond Lights (320 Kbps)
» Click for the
Cold electric blue those diamond lights
You were hard as stone
Solid stone, for me
The colours change rearrange my life
Can’t explain so afraid tonight
Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights
I’ll always want you
Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights
I’ll always need you
Oh darling
Diamond, diamond lights
Standing in the rain
Cold electric sky no diamond lights
Now i’m on my own
So alone, oh darling
The colours change rearrange my life
Can’t explain so afraid tonight
Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights
I’ll always want you
Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights
I’ll always need you
Oh darling
Instrumental: Rocking guitar solo!
Diamond lights cold as ice to me (cold as ice to me)
Diamond lights cold as ice to me
Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights
I’ll always want you
Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights
I’ll always need you
Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights
I’ll always want you
Hoddle: Darling i love you / Waddle: My diamond lights
I’ll always need you
And that ToTP appearance…
2014 update:
The official video:
Thanks to the Cheesy Music blog for the additional info & lyrics.
Oh and it was Darren Stuart who mailed to request the reappearance of this song.
– And whilst you are at it: Don’t forget the T-Shirt.
Waddle is commenting on Sunderland v. Stoke on ESPN right now, and I can’t help hearing that song in my head!
CRINGE…
Modern Talking come to mind. The 80s have A LOT to answer for…
“The 80s have A LOT to answer for…” I completely agree with Teena on this.
thanks for the post. Looking forward for some great posts from your end.
Cheers!!! 🙂