This is the beginning of a themed series of posts, starting with the 2010 FA Cup Final.

Rude boy FA Cup

The theme ? Ska

I love this music and when I posted an England/World Cup song by The Skatoons the other day, I started to look for more footie & ska music connections. Then with some perfect timing… I received an email about another England/WC/Ska song, which I’ll be posting in a few days.

Let’s get started with…

It is common knowledge that there’s a couple of ska tunes associated with Chelsea. I’ll be featuring one of those below.

What is probably lesser known…

– That there was a ska tune done in relation to Pompey which after you hear it you’ll wish that you didn’t, but as is with the tradition here I must report what I find. Even if it causes some pain.

As you will discover, everything about this is wrong. The naming of the band, the fact that it’s a re-worded version of ska tune more associated with another team (which I’ll expand on below) or especially with the subject(s) of the song.

What was the act called ?   Krap Not ‘Arf.

What’s wrong (apart from it being a crap name) with that then ?   They named themselves after Pompey’s home ground – but they put it backward AND missed out a letter.

What was the tune they covered ?   Tom Hark.

What was the re-worded version about ?   Their previous manager, plus his assistant at the time and their promotion from the Football League First Division to the Premier League in the 2002/03 season.

Pompey Badge » Krap Not ‘Arf – ‘Arry and Jim

I’ll post the original below, but first…

I’m not going to get into which team can claim original ownership of this tune now, I’ll look into that at a later date. Let’s just say for the moment that Chelsea are one of the clubs that are associated with the follow ska tune:

Chelsea badge » Billy Bluebeat – The Liquidator

The Originals…

As mentioned above with the Pompey song they did a cover of Tom Hark, which was not originally done by The Piranhas, but theirs is in fact a cover of a 1950’s tune. I’m posting the Piranhas version here and Any Major Dude With Half A Heart will explain where this one first started.

– The footie team that is actually associated with this song is Brighton & Hove Albion and one of these days I will finally get around to telling their story. But for now:

» The Piranhas – Tom Hark

…and the original version (unless Any Major Dude… knows any different) of The Liquidator:

» Harry J Allstars – The Liquidator

After the final has played I’ll post some more ska music for the winners.
Obviously I’m hoping expecting that it will be … because I’ve got bugger all for … .

If you like this then you’ll enjoy…

Marco On The Bass: A musical life dedicated to a love of 2tone, ska, reggae, soul and rock steady.

A recommended purchase…

The Trojan Ska Box Set
[Amazon UK link]
[Amazon USA link]

2 Replies to “Cup Final Ska”

  1. In 2007, I discovered on YouTube a Ska song which, apparently, was written for the 2007 Cup Final. It had been put up by some middle-aged Chelsea fan who claimed to be quite well known among the more thuggish elements of the supporters. It began with the lines, ‘I don’t want to beat up you, I’ve only come here to see the Blues’ and had another line ending ‘Franco Zola and Viali’. The video disappeared from YouTube about 2009 and I have not been able to identify the song, which had a great tune. Have you any knowledge of this?

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