30 May 2006
It's coming home...
Well, with just over a week to go till the World Cup starts you probably don't need any help getting into the footy mood. But in case you're not quite there yet, try this sampling of songs, timed to fit nicely on a CD for you, to put you over the edge...
01 - Keep On Moving (World Cup 2002 Remix) - 5ive
This was one of the more fun remix songs going around England for the 2002 tournament.
02 - World At Your Feet - Embrace
The Official England 2006 World Cup song. I hate that I like it.
03 - Fiesta - The Pogues
It's those mad Irish boys having a great time. Can't remember if they actually used this in 1994, but I think they did.
04 - Kasey Keller - Barcelona
A song about Keller's heroics between the pipes as the USA lost 1-0 to Brazil.
05 - Life of Reilly - Lightning Seeds
When I was younger this was the tune Grandstand's Football Focus segment used for the highlights for the week, so it just stuck that way, like it was making a face and the wind changed.
06 - Bodyrock - Moby
It's on one of the EA Sports FIFA games (the first of many nod to that franchise on this list).
07 - CAn I Kick It? - A Tribe Called Quest
Ian Wright was in a commercial back in the day, and this was the song.
08 - Song 2 - Blur
Another one from the EA Sports canon.
09 - Mr. E's Beautiful Blues - Eels
When England beat Germany 5-1 in Munich a few years ago, this was how the coverage ended: playing this song over the highlights, which included Ian Wright jumping up and down on the pundits' sofa - just so funny.
10 - Nem Vem Que Nao Tem - Wilson Simonal
It was only a matter of time before the music from the ads came into the mix. This is from a Nike commercial with a crowd following Ronaldinho.
11 - A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley (JXL Remix)
You might know it from the Oceans 11 soundtrack, but I know it from Nike's "The Ship" commercials featuring the mad-as-a-Frenchman Eric Cantona.
12 - Eat My Goal - Collapsed Lung
"Eat My Goal" is a cry made famous by Steve Coogan's character, Alan Partidge on the made-up-current-affairs TV show "The Day Today". Collapsed Lung made it a great unofficial song for England's 1998 campaign (or 2002, I can't be expected to remember it all).
13 - Papa Loves Mambo - Dean Martin
Another one that comes from the Oceans 11 soundtrack and a Nike Commercial.
14 - Altogether Now - The Farm
The song itself is about the incredible informal truce that took place between German and British forces over Christmas 1914, and the impromptu football matches that were played between two armies at war. This title is now the official slogan for the English Football Association and a remixed version was the official song for the 2004 European Championships.
15 - Ring of Fire - The Bootroom Boys
Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen sings along to Apollo 440's remix of the Johnny Cash classic. This was Liverpool's song for the 2006 FA Cup Final.
16 - Caroline - Radio 4
Nike have a Joga Bonito (Play Beautiful in Portuguese) campaign for the 2006 World Cup. This song was featured on the commercial with Wayne Rooney.
17 - Tell Her Tonight - Franz Ferdinand
From the FIFA 2005 game.
18 - Three Lions (1996 version) - Skinner, Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds
Voted, by some margin, the best football song ever recorded. And it is.
19 - World in Motion - Englandneworder (New Order)
At the time the best football song we'd ever heard, this was recorded for the England 1990 World Cup.
20 - Mas Que Nada - Sergio Mendes & Black Eyed Peas
The original Mas Que Nada has been used in Nike commercials with the Brazil team since 1998 or earlier. This remixed version is one I hate to love but it's just so fun. Also featured in the EA Sports World Cup 2006 game. Oh, and if you can get Sergio Mendes' album Timeless you should listen to "Please Baby Dont" and "Yes Y'all" because they're really good. :)
21 - City of Blinding Lights - U2
It's being used to promote the World Cup here in the USA. The "Anthem" commercial has Bono speaking over the top of this track. It's the longest of the four commercials, and also my favorite. The other commercials in the series, voiced by The Edge and Adam Clayton (and a second one from Bono) use "Beautiful Day" and "Where The Streets Have No Name".
Honorable Mentions
These tracks didn't make it onto this mix, but you might like them on yours...
Superstar - Oasis (from "Goal! The Dream Begins")
Red Morning Light - Kings of Leon (from EA Sports)
To Get Down - Timo Maas (Fatboy Slim Remix) (from EA Sports)
We Used To Be Friends - Dandy Warhols (from EA Sports)
It's Only Us - Robbie Williams (from EA Sports)
Whatever you're doing for the next six weeks, you'll find me here, watching the games on the telly.
01 - Keep On Moving (World Cup 2002 Remix) - 5ive
This was one of the more fun remix songs going around England for the 2002 tournament.
02 - World At Your Feet - Embrace
The Official England 2006 World Cup song. I hate that I like it.
03 - Fiesta - The Pogues
It's those mad Irish boys having a great time. Can't remember if they actually used this in 1994, but I think they did.
04 - Kasey Keller - Barcelona
A song about Keller's heroics between the pipes as the USA lost 1-0 to Brazil.
05 - Life of Reilly - Lightning Seeds
When I was younger this was the tune Grandstand's Football Focus segment used for the highlights for the week, so it just stuck that way, like it was making a face and the wind changed.
06 - Bodyrock - Moby
It's on one of the EA Sports FIFA games (the first of many nod to that franchise on this list).
07 - CAn I Kick It? - A Tribe Called Quest
Ian Wright was in a commercial back in the day, and this was the song.
08 - Song 2 - Blur
Another one from the EA Sports canon.
09 - Mr. E's Beautiful Blues - Eels
When England beat Germany 5-1 in Munich a few years ago, this was how the coverage ended: playing this song over the highlights, which included Ian Wright jumping up and down on the pundits' sofa - just so funny.
10 - Nem Vem Que Nao Tem - Wilson Simonal
It was only a matter of time before the music from the ads came into the mix. This is from a Nike commercial with a crowd following Ronaldinho.
11 - A Little Less Conversation - Elvis Presley (JXL Remix)
You might know it from the Oceans 11 soundtrack, but I know it from Nike's "The Ship" commercials featuring the mad-as-a-Frenchman Eric Cantona.
12 - Eat My Goal - Collapsed Lung
"Eat My Goal" is a cry made famous by Steve Coogan's character, Alan Partidge on the made-up-current-affairs TV show "The Day Today". Collapsed Lung made it a great unofficial song for England's 1998 campaign (or 2002, I can't be expected to remember it all).
13 - Papa Loves Mambo - Dean Martin
Another one that comes from the Oceans 11 soundtrack and a Nike Commercial.
14 - Altogether Now - The Farm
The song itself is about the incredible informal truce that took place between German and British forces over Christmas 1914, and the impromptu football matches that were played between two armies at war. This title is now the official slogan for the English Football Association and a remixed version was the official song for the 2004 European Championships.
15 - Ring of Fire - The Bootroom Boys
Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen sings along to Apollo 440's remix of the Johnny Cash classic. This was Liverpool's song for the 2006 FA Cup Final.
16 - Caroline - Radio 4
Nike have a Joga Bonito (Play Beautiful in Portuguese) campaign for the 2006 World Cup. This song was featured on the commercial with Wayne Rooney.
17 - Tell Her Tonight - Franz Ferdinand
From the FIFA 2005 game.
18 - Three Lions (1996 version) - Skinner, Baddiel and the Lightning Seeds
Voted, by some margin, the best football song ever recorded. And it is.
19 - World in Motion - Englandneworder (New Order)
At the time the best football song we'd ever heard, this was recorded for the England 1990 World Cup.
20 - Mas Que Nada - Sergio Mendes & Black Eyed Peas
The original Mas Que Nada has been used in Nike commercials with the Brazil team since 1998 or earlier. This remixed version is one I hate to love but it's just so fun. Also featured in the EA Sports World Cup 2006 game. Oh, and if you can get Sergio Mendes' album Timeless you should listen to "Please Baby Dont" and "Yes Y'all" because they're really good. :)
21 - City of Blinding Lights - U2
It's being used to promote the World Cup here in the USA. The "Anthem" commercial has Bono speaking over the top of this track. It's the longest of the four commercials, and also my favorite. The other commercials in the series, voiced by The Edge and Adam Clayton (and a second one from Bono) use "Beautiful Day" and "Where The Streets Have No Name".
Honorable Mentions
These tracks didn't make it onto this mix, but you might like them on yours...
Superstar - Oasis (from "Goal! The Dream Begins")
Red Morning Light - Kings of Leon (from EA Sports)
To Get Down - Timo Maas (Fatboy Slim Remix) (from EA Sports)
We Used To Be Friends - Dandy Warhols (from EA Sports)
It's Only Us - Robbie Williams (from EA Sports)
Whatever you're doing for the next six weeks, you'll find me here, watching the games on the telly.
10 May 2006
yes, precisely.
"Across the globe, we are told, at any one moment just so many people are being born, or dying, or procreating or staring down the barrel of a gun. I like to think that at any one moment somewhere in the world one of football's ordinary punters is scoring an extraordinary goal. It has happened to everyone who has played the game. On some (perhaps lone) occasion you have sent the ball thundering past the helpless keeper from 25 yards, or else you have met the ball with head (eyes closed, of course) and sent it like a bullet into the top corner of the net. Not every sport can offer such a thrill. However often you go to your municipal swimming baths you will not chance upon someone establishing a new world record. Yet, by the law of averages, every Sunday, some bepaunched and breathless punter from publand will strike home the ball in a way that the peerless Pele or the mighty Bobby Charlton could not have bettered. It can happen anywhere and, if you wait long enough, will happen almost everywhere. This is the beauty of football: a little bit of the sublime, rather more of the ridiculous and quite a lot of everything in between."
- Chris Pierson, "The Golden Year: St Albans City 1971/2" from My Favourite Year, A Collection of New Football Writing, edited by Nick Hornby
- Chris Pierson, "The Golden Year: St Albans City 1971/2" from My Favourite Year, A Collection of New Football Writing, edited by Nick Hornby
