The first of the official songs for teams taking part in Euro 2016 has surfaced. Since they are the hosts it should only be right and proper that it is the one for the French national team.
But…
BBC News – French Euro 2016 team’s English anthem criticised http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36186486
Choice of English song as French anthem for Euro 2016 ‘concerning’ http://gu.com/p/4tnyf/stw
A French minister has described the choice of a song in English as the official anthem for French supporters at Euro 2016 as “incomprehensible”.
Andre Vallini, the secretary of state for Francophony, said the French Football Federation’s decision to choose a cover of I Was Made for Lovin’ You, performed by French group Skip the Use, was “very concerning”.
The song, originally performed by American rock veterans Kiss, has been renamed I Was Made for Lovin’ You (My Team) for the tournament.
Skip the Use’s lead singer, Mat Bastard, said they were asked to record the song ahead of others by French singers Charles Trenet and Jean-Jacques Goldman “because it was the song which meant the most to us”.
Ah it’s just that one politician. Baisez lui, non?
I can understand where he is coming from though. Imagine if a song done for the England team was all in French, there would obviously be an uproar not just from the racist UKIP or Britain First groups. If maybe they did it in French with an English chorus or the other way round, it might have appeased some people.
This usage of English in relation to major competitions isn’t a first. In the last few years many of the songs at Eurovision have been performed in English, again much to the annoyance of a few people from their respective countries. But the aim there is to win that competition with a song. In this other competition it is the football and not the music that decides who wins. In this case though fair play to Skip The Use for sticking to their guns and recording the song how they want.
Sadly and puzzlingly the video is blocked from being viewed in some parts of the world. If that is the case where you are, watch below:
It is actually a very decent cover version and one that will obviously get lots of attention because of the above faux controversy.
As you can see there are a few players from the France national team in the video, but they are smart enough not to record themselves singing.
It doesn’t look like the song is available for sale outside of France. If I do find a download/purchase link I will update this post.