During the Euro 2008 tournament all the the fans chanted the “Woooah, Wooah Woah Woah, Woah…” the hook line from The White Stripes – 7 Nation Army. This trend actually started earlier but only came to recognition/gained mass popularity at the Finals.

But there’s another chant-like song which goes back, way back to who knows when.

I tried to research and find out about the history and origins of this tune but everything led to a dead end. If you have some knowledge then post it in the comments.

The words to the song are instantly memorable that even a one year old could recite it on demand. It goes like:
“Olé, Olé Olé Olé, Olé, Olé….”

The second line goes:
“Olé, Olé Olé Olé, Olé, Olé….”

The third line… < SNIP! >

– The earliest version recorded for prosperity… but maybe not because of another version I’ll mention below… was at the 1994 World Cup finals and was included on the official CD released back then.

The usual song lyric, the oft repeated line as you know is: Olé. But for some reason on the USA’94 version the title was changed to: Alé (That’s Al-lay and not ale).

For why is unclear but it is the same song. I seem to remember the Irish fans constantly chanting this at the tournament, maybe it was their influence onto some record producer who created this version..? I don’t know.

» The Crowd – Anthem (Alé, Alé, Alé)

-> Fast forward to the 2006 World Cup and that annoying Crazy Frog jumped on the bandwagon. (Yes there was a full album.)
What happened to everybody ? Were they brainwashed by the noise it made ?
The fat cat record execs inflicted this upon us and now everybody downloads instead of buying their overpriced CD’s. Revenge is sweet.

This version actually has a line of lyrics. Hard to believe but it’s true:

» Crazy Frog – Olé Olé Olé (Do The Froggy Wave)

Many years ago, in the early/mid 80’s I followed a non-league team around. It was Barrow AFC.

At their home games, I don’t know who the MC was but he found and played this next song as the running out music for the team years before there was running out music.

This one has actually has full – and very corny lyrics. It’s terrible but great at the same time. Of all the tracks posted here this is actually my favourite because it reminds me of the time back in Barrow and the fans who took up the chant: “Olé Olé Olé – we are Barroooowww/we are Barroowww…”

Again I don’t know where the original came from or who originally wrote it. Would love to find out more.

» The Fans – Olé Olé Olé (The Name Of The Game)

and finally…

What if I said to you that Brian Harvey, the king of chavs, the English equivalent of Vanilla Ice had collaborated on a single with Wyclef Jean (under the name Refugee Crew) and the song included Olé Olé Olé in the chorus. Would you believe me ? Well it happened…

» Brian Harvey and The Refugee Crew – Loving You (Ole Ole Ole)

2 Replies to “Nevermind The Lyrics”

  1. I used to have the cd single for Woooah, Wooah Woah Woah, Woah. I don’t know what happened to it. Lost it long time ago. I think it might have only been 2 songs or something. I remember the win and partying it up in Toronto til 5 am. Kept playing the song non stop. Don’t know what happened but i want to replace the song. Can’t remember the name of the band. Been looking for months. If you figure it out, let me know, i want to download it.

    Thanks

    gabe

  2. Alle means “Let’s go” in French. That’s why it appears in the Cup of life song. Wasn’t it hosted in France that year?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.