The Sunday Times March 12, 2006
Kaisers on song for Cup victory
Maurice Chittenden
THE Kaiser Chiefs, the rock band that swept this year’s Brit awards, are the favourites to record England’s official World Cup song. The Football Association has targeted them and two other hit groups, the Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian, to make a single “worthy of the England team”.
The FA is determined to come up with a song to equal World in Motion, the New Order hit which topped the charts for two weeks during the 1990 World Cup in Italy. That record featured England winger John Barnes rapping “So catch me, if you can, cos I’m the England man, and what you’re looking at, is the master plan”.
The FA’s master plan, however, is proving as tricky as a David Beckham transfer deal. The Kaiser Chiefs, who have sold more than 1.5m copies of their debut album, Employment, admit that they have been approached but have yet to agree a deal.
Early talks with the group came to nothing, but the FA’s interest has been renewed after they won three Brit Awards, including best live act, last month. English football’s ruling body hopes that it can attract them with the lure of even more acclaim and the probability of a number one single.
An FA insider said: “We have to be top drawer. World in Motion set the bar. There is less than 100 days to go so we have to decide soon. We want someone cool like the Kaiser Chiefs. We want to have the best performance both on the pitch and in the charts.”
The band, who are from Leeds, can claim footballing links: they are named after the Kaizer Chiefs, a South African football club. Lucas Radebe, one of its players, spent 11 seasons with Leeds United where he was known as “The Chief” before retiring last year.
The Kaiser Chiefs have already built a reputation for singalong tunes such as I Predict a Riot. At some grounds it is sung behind the away goal as I Predict a Diet to torment overweight goalkeepers.
The FA has rejected suggestions that Wayne Rooney, England’s top striker, should join the chosen band with a rap performance. But one possibility is to invite Peter Kay, the Bolton comedian who had a number one charity single miming to Tony Christie’s 1971 hit Amarillo, to film a video with the group.
It was a mix of rock and comedy featuring the Lightning Seeds and David Baddiel and Frank Skinner which took the song Three Lions to number one during the Euro 96 tournament in England in 1996 and at the World Cup in France two years later.
The success of this year’s song will be linked to the team’s performance. If England progress to the later rounds, as expected, a single could easily sell 1m copies. However, the Kaiser Chiefs could miss the final on Sunday, July 9. They will be playing at the Oxegen festival, Ireland’s answer to Glastonbury, that day.
At least a dozen rival, unofficial versions of the World Cup song are planned, including Out Loud England by the Lofthouse 2000 Brass Band, a soprano backed by four brass players; We Are England by pop band Ricky; and a rap song from one of Rooney’s cousins.
A spokesman for the Kaiser Chiefs said the band were going on tour next month and would then be starting work on their second album. There were still no plans to record a World Cup song. But Paul Bolton, the band’s agent, said; “They are all football fans so it wouldn’t surprise me if they did it.”
The FA said: “We have had massive interest from bands, singers and record companies and hope to make an announcement very soon.”
A SONG FOR ENGLAND
Bobby Moore, he was class
He knew how to weight a pass
It helped us win 4-2 back then
We’ve never done as well again
No pressure lads
Have we ever said at all
How Bobby, Nobby, Alan Ball
Won the cup in ‘66
But since then we’ve won
nothing, nix
No pressure lads
Geoff Hurst running down the wing
Gets the ball and belts it in
“They think it’s all over”! We’re
in tears
And that was that for 40 years.
No pressure lads
So bring on the Germans, bring
on Brazil
If they can’t beat us, no one will
This is our greatest chance to
win it
Unless we blow it in the 89th minute
No pressure lads
Roland White
thetimesonline.co.uk
Kaisers on song for Cup victory
Maurice Chittenden
THE Kaiser Chiefs, the rock band that swept this year’s Brit awards, are the favourites to record England’s official World Cup song. The Football Association has targeted them and two other hit groups, the Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian, to make a single “worthy of the England team”.
The FA is determined to come up with a song to equal World in Motion, the New Order hit which topped the charts for two weeks during the 1990 World Cup in Italy. That record featured England winger John Barnes rapping “So catch me, if you can, cos I’m the England man, and what you’re looking at, is the master plan”.
The FA’s master plan, however, is proving as tricky as a David Beckham transfer deal. The Kaiser Chiefs, who have sold more than 1.5m copies of their debut album, Employment, admit that they have been approached but have yet to agree a deal.
Early talks with the group came to nothing, but the FA’s interest has been renewed after they won three Brit Awards, including best live act, last month. English football’s ruling body hopes that it can attract them with the lure of even more acclaim and the probability of a number one single.
An FA insider said: “We have to be top drawer. World in Motion set the bar. There is less than 100 days to go so we have to decide soon. We want someone cool like the Kaiser Chiefs. We want to have the best performance both on the pitch and in the charts.”
The band, who are from Leeds, can claim footballing links: they are named after the Kaizer Chiefs, a South African football club. Lucas Radebe, one of its players, spent 11 seasons with Leeds United where he was known as “The Chief” before retiring last year.
The Kaiser Chiefs have already built a reputation for singalong tunes such as I Predict a Riot. At some grounds it is sung behind the away goal as I Predict a Diet to torment overweight goalkeepers.
The FA has rejected suggestions that Wayne Rooney, England’s top striker, should join the chosen band with a rap performance. But one possibility is to invite Peter Kay, the Bolton comedian who had a number one charity single miming to Tony Christie’s 1971 hit Amarillo, to film a video with the group.
It was a mix of rock and comedy featuring the Lightning Seeds and David Baddiel and Frank Skinner which took the song Three Lions to number one during the Euro 96 tournament in England in 1996 and at the World Cup in France two years later.
The success of this year’s song will be linked to the team’s performance. If England progress to the later rounds, as expected, a single could easily sell 1m copies. However, the Kaiser Chiefs could miss the final on Sunday, July 9. They will be playing at the Oxegen festival, Ireland’s answer to Glastonbury, that day.
At least a dozen rival, unofficial versions of the World Cup song are planned, including Out Loud England by the Lofthouse 2000 Brass Band, a soprano backed by four brass players; We Are England by pop band Ricky; and a rap song from one of Rooney’s cousins.
A spokesman for the Kaiser Chiefs said the band were going on tour next month and would then be starting work on their second album. There were still no plans to record a World Cup song. But Paul Bolton, the band’s agent, said; “They are all football fans so it wouldn’t surprise me if they did it.”
The FA said: “We have had massive interest from bands, singers and record companies and hope to make an announcement very soon.”
A SONG FOR ENGLAND
Bobby Moore, he was class
He knew how to weight a pass
It helped us win 4-2 back then
We’ve never done as well again
No pressure lads
Have we ever said at all
How Bobby, Nobby, Alan Ball
Won the cup in ‘66
But since then we’ve won
nothing, nix
No pressure lads
Geoff Hurst running down the wing
Gets the ball and belts it in
“They think it’s all over”! We’re
in tears
And that was that for 40 years.
No pressure lads
So bring on the Germans, bring
on Brazil
If they can’t beat us, no one will
This is our greatest chance to
win it
Unless we blow it in the 89th minute
No pressure lads
Roland White
thetimesonline.co.uk