There it went

[Jah Womble]

Well, I sort of understand 'how' it might have been applied - but it does seem a strange lyrical reference. (And why were their 'bums' of such interest?)

I'm thinking too hard about this, aren't I?

[No History ? My Arse]

Does anyone know where the Da Da Da-Da-Da Da-Da Da-Da (insert two syllable team name here) originattes from?

I was pleasantly surprised as a young football fan to hear it on a documentary abo9ut May '68, where it was a chant:

Ce n'est/ qu'un début/, continuons le/ com-bat

(This is only the start, let's keep fighting).

Influence of radical left internationalism on football chants in England..? (Probably that McLaren and his situationist mates)

It comes from a 1962 song Lets Go Pony by The Routers. Will let someone else attach a link if they want to

[Third rate Leszno]

Waltz in the cowshed
Waltz in the cowshed
Who'll come and waltz in the cowshed with me?
Cos we'll kick you and brick you
And chop your fucking bollocks off
If you'll come and waltz in the cowshed with me

[longeared]

Bertie Mee said to Bill Shankly
Heard of the North Stand, Highbury?
Bill said No, I Don't think so,
But I've heard of the Rotherham boot-boys

Before my time, but believe the Wednesday version of this went:

Bill Shankly said to Bertie Mee
Have you heard of the North Bank Highbury
He said no I don't think so
But I've heard of the East Bank Aggro

[Nefertiti2]

Does anyone know where the Da Da Da-Da-Da Da-Da Da-Da (insert two syllable team name here) originattes from?

I was pleasantly surprised as a young football fan to hear it on a documentary abo9ut May '68, where it was a chant:

Ce n'est/ qu'un début/, continuons le/ com-bat

(This is only the start, let's keep fighting).

Influence of radical left internationalism on football chants in England..? (Probably that McLaren and his situationist mates)

Guantanamera.

One [team in London] There's only one [team in London]

[No History ? My Arse]

Bertie Mee said to Bill Shankly
Heard of the North Stand, Highbury?
Bill said No, I Don't think so,
But I've heard of the Rotherham boot-boys

The tune for this chant is 'The Tennessee Wig Walk'

[Ray de Galles]

Well, I sort of understand 'how' it might have been applied - but it does seem a strange lyrical reference. (And why were their 'bums' of such interest?)

I'm thinking too hard about this, aren't I?

No, carry on, I completely share your confusion about it.

[wittoner]

It's "Bums" in the American sense of useless worthless people.

The ritual was: Opposition fans chant something in support of their team. you respond with " I hear the sound of distant bums, over there over there" ( accompanied by choreographed pointing towards rival fans)

At the time everyone would have been familiar with the Jim Reeves original so would have take "bums" as a "witty" twist on the original drums.

[Gangster Octopus]

Exactly. Trying to explain things to these youngsters is quite a chore, isn't it...

[tee rex]

The tune for this chant is 'The Tennessee Wig Walk'

I did not know that, nor the date (1971) it got revived as a football standard, according to the singer's Telegraph obituary.

[Logan Mountstuart]

I vaguely remember that the "in yer slums" number was generally aimed at the Liverpool clubs. The best version I remember was big fat, beered - up Leeds fans singing "in yer Monaco slums" at Louis I.

I also remember fellow supporters being sickened by the tattered and torn faces of their plucky, cockney counterparts and terminating their suffering with a friendly brick.

[tee rex]

I also remember fellow supporters being sickened by the tattered and torn faces of their plucky, cockney counterparts and terminating their suffering with a friendly brick.

In the 1980 FA Cup final you can clearly hear West Ham fans directing this one at Arsenal, at about the time Brian Moore (?) says how wonderful the good old Hammers' passionate vocal suport is. There was a lot of that back then, the noisy backdrop being praised by the commentators, without looking too deeply into what the noise was.

[Paul S]

This is the problem with all seater stadia, it kills the atmosphere doesn't it? Before, all those who wanted to sing could stand together, but now they're dispersed all around an end, or even around the stadium. The fan culture of singing and chanting has just disappeared and we're all the worse for it.

[Jah Womble]

Exactly. Trying to explain things to these youngsters is quite a chore, isn't it...

'Youngster'? Me?

Well, if you insist, grandad.

[Snake Plissken]

In the 1980 FA Cup final you can clearly hear West Ham fans directing this one at Arsenal, at about the time Brian Moore (?) says how wonderful the good old Hammers' passionate vocal suport is. There was a lot of that back then, the noisy backdrop being praised by the commentators, without looking too deeply into what the noise was.

Ha. Much more recently (4-5 years ago) the BBC were broadcasting an Old Firm game on BBC Two and as the sectarian chants filled the studio, Alan Hansen commented on the wonderfully passionate atmosphere.

[Bored Of Education]

- just the other day I watched Rangers v Bayern in the Cup Winners' Cup on Youtube, from 1972. You can hear Ibrox fans singing a few old standards, but also "When X goes up to lift the Y Cup, I'll be there". I would have dated that much later (I don't remember it in the 80s) but Google offers up Newcastle in 1974 ("When Moncur goes up ..." - he didn't).

What's the tune of that?

While I think of it, the "A-G, A-G-R, A-G-R-O, agro!" always pissed me off as it should have been 'aggro'

[tee rex]

Quartermaster Stores (tune here, with Pete Seeger).

Same tune as "he's fat, he's round, he bounces on the ground" or "he's here, he's there, he's every fucking where", etc.

[HORN]

One I found particularly pleasing was:

When you’re smiling,
When you’re smiling,
The whole world smiles with you-oooo [cue mass jazz hands on the ooooo]

[DCI Harry Batt]

Right, so let me try you out on this one. You know the "England's, England's number one" chant? Where does that come from?

[wittoner]

The Tremeloes 1968 Hit "Helule Helule"

[Snake Plissken]

If a lot of these are from late 60s records, what were crowds singing before then?

The game seems to have moved from black and white terraces full of men with bad teeth grinning into the camera and cheering “huzzah” to long haired lanks in flares waving painted bedsheets with nothing in between.

[Jah Womble]

What's the tune of that?

While I think of it, the "A-G, A-G-R, A-G-R-O, agro!" always pissed me off as it should have been 'aggro'

Which had the higher emergency status - 'aggro' or 'bovver'?

[My Name Is Ian]

If a lot of these are from late 60s records, what were crowds singing before then?

The game seems to have moved from black and white terraces full of men with bad teeth grinning into the camera and cheering “huzzah” to long haired lanks in flares waving painted bedsheets with nothing in between.

Well, the first episode of Match Of The Day started with Kenneth Wolstenholme standing in front of the Kop while 20,000-odd Liverpool supporters belted out She Loves You as it was being played over the PA.

And the PA might even be the answer to this. It's pure supposition on my part, but it strikes me as plausible that music being piped over PA systems could well have been an innovation of the 1960s and that the reason that these songs ended up having staying power because they were amongst the first "pop" records to be heard inside a ground. You'll Never Walk Alone was popularised at the same time, of course.

Thinking about it, whenever I've watched matches from the 1950s - and I think, for example, that I've watched every FA Cup final from that decade - I don't recall hearing any singing during matches from the crowd. Abide With Me, the National Anthem, and that's your lot.

[tee rex]

The Tremeloes 1968 Hit "Helule Helule"

Thanks for that. It appears to have originated with Kenya's Daudi Kabaka. Another example of a relatively obscure song/tune, almost lost to history but kept alive by football crowds.

[DCI Harry Batt]

The Tremeloes 1968 Hit "Helule Helule"

I LOVE YOU

Exactly right

Which means, of course, it's:

England's, England's number one
England's...number one

And not the other way round.