what's that tune?
By Will Foster
Ever wondered where that terrace chant comes from? We look at the origins of Luton chants through the years.
Up I Came With My Little Lot
There is a case for Luton fans being the first to sing any terrace song. After brewer J.W. Green paid for the pavillion at Dallow Lane in 1890 he wasted little time installing a bar, selling his own ale, naturally. Atmosphere at matches was said to increase from this point - apparently alcohol loosens the vocal chords (who knew?) - and by the time of Millwall's visit in January 1894 a Morning Leader correspondant signed as 'Ghost', reported the atmosphere he encountered:
"I found myself at Luton on Saturday, a humble unit in a crowd of the noisiest spectators it has ever been my lot to mingle with. The rain did its best to keep off, but the awful vibrations caused by the deafening shouts of the straw-plaiters left it no alternative, and it had to come down. Their “little lot,” when trotted out, is a very blood-curdling affair. Had the Luton players obeyed the injunctions of their supporters, the Millwall men could not have been brought home except in pieces.”
'Little Lot' refers to a Herbert Campbell song, 'Up I Came With My Little Lot', which he had performed in Luton on multiple ocassions, including at the meadow next to Bramingham Villa in 1869. The song was generally popular and a perfect fit for the Straw Plaiters given the team had a number of short players - JC Lomax, George Deacon and Walter Miller in particular - and by the 1894/1895 season they'd acquired the name 'the midgets'.
You can hear a version by Herbert Campbell below. There's more about the song and the era on the Straw Plaiters website.
Oh When The Town Go Steaming In
Oh When The Saints Go Marching In is based on a Christian hymn but has become synonymous with Jazz, with the earliest recordings dating back to 1923. Early versions were slow but soon became more upbeat.
Its first use as a terrace chant likely belongs to Southampton, who claim to have been using it in the 1950s but Liverpool fans also claim first usage with a version for Ian St John. It's now been appropriated by many teams.
Hey Baby! Big Fat Joe's Gonna Take Us Up
With DJ Otzi's version reaching number 1 in the UK in the summer of 2000 it was no surprise that it was quickly taken on as a terrace chant. 'Big Fat' Joe received the honour and it became the soundtrack to a first promotion in 20 years. A new version for Nathan Jones brought it back to the stands, most memorably on that sunny afternoon in Nottingham when promotion from the 4th tier had been secured again.
The song was originally written by Margaret Cobb and Bruce Channel in 1959, becoming a US number 1 for Channel in March 1962. The famous harmonica riff is by Delbert McClinton who regularly played with Channel, and its thought to have inspired John Lennon's harmonica playing on 'Love Me Do'.
He's Only a Poor Little Hornet
It's nice to think that maybe it's only in the UK that a sweet little song by a school choir could be turned into a vitriolic terrace chant. Such is the case with 'I'm Only a Poor Little Sparrow' by The Ramblers, which was written by school teacher Maurice Jordan and became a hit in 1979 after being re-recorded and produced by Kevin Parrott, of Brian and Michael fame.
Full credit to the person who listened to this and thought, 'hey, that would make a great terrace chant!"
Luton's Number Nine
Carlton Morris on my mind.
Though made famous by Manfred Mann’s 1964 version, Do Wah Diddy Diddy was written the year before and recorded by US RnB band The Exciters.
And It's Luton Town, Luton Town FC
The Wild Rover has roots that travel back hundreds of years. It's claimed that the origin of the song was a seventeenth century English Broadside written by Thomas Lanfiere. Its popularity quickly grew in many countries, particularly Ireland and Australia.
Its football usage is heavily linked to Celtic but naturally has a strong history with Blackburn and Burnley also.
We All Follow the Luton
Not the last song on our list with origins in the US Civil War, Marching Through Georgia was written by Henry Clay Work and tells the story of a Union soldier who had taken part in William Tecumsah Sherman's 'March to the Sea', which led to the capture of Savannah in 1864.
The song became hugely popular in the US, the sheet music selling 500,000 copies. It became particularly well known in UK after its adoption as a liberal anthem. David Lloyd George used it as a campaign song called 'George and Gladstone' and its tune forms the basis of the de-facto Liberal Democrat anthem, 'The Land'.
Do, do, do, do... Alfie Doughty (and others)
Is taken from the 1981 instrumental single 'Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag' by UK band Pigbag. A remixed version reached No3 in the UK charts in 1982, and it gained further fame via a remix by Paul Oakenfold, as the 'Perfecto Allstarz' which reached No6 in 1995.
He's Magic You Know..
The ode to Elijah Adebayo comes from Scottish band Pilot’s worldwide 1974 hit Magic. The song is inspired by the sunrise on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh.
Watford Get Battered....
Derives its tune from The Beautiful South's 1996 hit Rotterdam (Or Anywhere). Paul Heaton wrote the song as a 'hatemail' to the Dutch town after receiving a bad reception while sitting hung-over in one of the city's bars.
Luton, Luton, Luton, Luton....
The hymn Amazing Grace dates back to the 18th century. The version we all know owes itself to American composer William Walker who, in 1835, set the words to a traditional tune called ‘New Britain’. The version below is the earliest known recording of the song, in 1922.
I'd Walk a Million Miles For One of Your Goals!
Sung for Keith 'Spider' Allen during his time with the club, it was based on the popular American song, 'My Mammy'. Though first performed by William Hawley (later of I Love Lucy fame) in 1915, the song remains most closely linked with Lithuanian-born vaudevillian Al Jonson, and especially as part of his blackface performances.
Is This a Library? (and many others!)
Getting a bit quiet in here. In other words, IS THIS A LIBRARY? Used for a hundred different chants in its time, the tune is La donna è mobile', from Verdi's Rigoletto. Here’s Pavarotti, blasting it out.
Oooh, Alan McCormack (or Thomas Kaminski, or many others!)
The easiest way to be honoured with your own song is to have a first name with two syllables and a last name with three. 'Seven Nation Army' by The White Stripes is the origin, of course. Only a modest hit in the UK when released in 2003, it's grown to almost universal usage as a sports anthem, which is said to have started in October 2003 and a match between Club Brugge and AC Milan, when the Brugge fans continued to sing it after striker Andres Mendoza scored.
Pelly Ruddock, Luton's 17
Another US Civil War song, When Johnny Comes Marching Home was written by Irish-American bandleader Patrick Gilmore, and is closely related to another patrotic song, ‘Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye’.
EIEIEIO, Up the Football League We Go
Is most likely inspired by the classic Cockney song Knees Up Mother Brown, though it’s a matter for debate.
Oh Matty Pearson's Magic, He Wears a Magic Hat
Taking inspiration largely from Lonnie Donegan's 1962 UK number 1, 'My Old Man's a Dustman', that song lifts sections from 'My Father Was a Fireman', sung by British troops in WW1. However, the melody has its roots in a French music hall song called 'La Jambe en Bois', about a woman with a wooden leg.
It's been used for many different football chants, though the magic hat version was largely popularised by Leeds's fans version for Pontus Jansson.
Jump Down, Turn Around Kick a Fan of Watford
The song 'Pick a Bale of Cotton' is a traditional work and folk song, first recorded by Texas inmates, James Baker and Mose Platt, and popularised by Leadbelly. In the UK it was a big hit for Lonnie Donegan.
Its use has become more controversial in recent years, being criticised as racist and glorifying slavery.
We Love You Luton, We Do
Something a little less controversial now, unless you feel strongly about show tunes. Brilliantly, it’s lifted from the song ‘We Love You, Conrad’, which features in the 1960s musical Bye Bye Birdie.
F*ck the FA
Though closely associated with Billy Ray Cyrus and ‘Achy Breaky Heart’, the song was first released as ‘Don’t Tell my Heart’ by The Marcy Brothers in 1991. The tune is also used for the ubiquitous ‘Don’t Take me Home’, which you’ll hear every night at the darts.
Who’s that Team They Call the Luton?
A tune used for many different songs, including ‘Ally’s Tartan Army’ and ‘God Save Ireland’, it originates from George Root’s Civil War tune, Tramp Tramp Tramp, published to give hope to Union prisoners in 1864.
<Insert Place Name> is a Sh*thole, I Wanna Go Home....
Based on the Bahaman folk song ‘The John B Sails’ and made famous by The Beach Boys, it’s been adapted to many different chants and sung by every set of visiting fans to Kenilworth Road for the past 10 years, each thinking they’re the first!
Nakamba!
A hit for The Champs in 1958, it’s based on the Cuban mambo song “Como Mi Ritmo No Hay Dos” and used in nearly every program and film of the past 50 years!! It's current usage was likely popularised by Arsenal fans adopting the song for their defender, William Saliba though, obviously, it works far better for Marv.
We're Going to Wembley (or Tell LuaLua....)
Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will be, Will be) was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans in 1955 and became famous through its use in Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 film 'The Man Who Knew Too Much', where it was sang by Doris Day and served as an important plot point in the film. This led to it reaching the top of the UK charts and it remains in the American Film Institute's Top 100 Movie Songs list.
The phrase is actually English in origin (with Que Sera, Sera technically a mis-translation) and can be dated back to at least the 16h century. Charles Dickens featured the phrase, 'what will be, will be,' in his 1854 novel Hard Times, and there is an interesting local link with the Duke of Bedford adopting the Italian version of the phrase as his family motto.
Its use as a football chant dates back to at least the 1950s.
We Are Luton Town, Say We Are…
Oops Upside Your Head was released in 1979 (a popular year for football chants) by The Gap Band. Another that’s been used for endless different chants, including 'We are top of the league'.
One Micky Harford (and many others!)
A Cuban patriotic song, it was popularised by The Sandpipers 1966 version as Guantanamera and used to sing the praise of every footballer with the correct number of syllables in their name.
Mind The Gap, Mind The Gap, Watford FC
A traditional Christian hymn also known as ‘Oil in My Lamp’ or ‘Sing Hosannah’, you probably sang it at school a thousand times.
Ole Ole Ole, We Are The Town
With roots in bullfighting, the popular version of the tune was first recorded in 1985 for Anderlecht FC, with Allez changed to Ole around the time of the Mexico World Cup. The rest is history.
Stand Up If You Love Luton (and many others)
By everyone’s favourite band, Go West by The Village People has spawned endless chants. The phrase ‘Go West’ is taken from the 19th century quote ‘Go West, Young Man’, a cry for the colonisation of the American West.
Hark Now Hear, the Luton Sing....
With a nod to the 18th century carol, the song was written in 1956 and was first a hit for Harry Belafonte, though the Boney M version triggered its use on the terraces, starting at the Sheffield clubs.
We’ve Got Super Robbie Edwards
Based loosely on the melody from Bad Moon Rising by CCR. You have to work hard to hear this one. CCR's John Fogerty also penned another popular football anthem, 'Rocking All Over the World,' before it found wider fame in the UK through Status Quo's version.
Maybe Tomorrow, I'll Just Watch Luton Town
The Littlest Hobo was a Canadian TV series. Its first run was in the 60s, but it was with the 1979 re-boot that David Bush's 'Maybe Tomorrow' was first used, blessed with the honour of being sung, badly out of tune, at Luton away matches forever more!
Oh Tommy Lockyer
The original version of the song was written Giorgio Moroder and released in Germany in 1971 with Michael Holm writing the lyrics. It was popularised in the UK by Chicory Tip's version, Son of My Father, which reached Number 1 in February 1972 and was almost instantly adopted as a terrace chant by many clubs.
Thank you for reading (and sorry for subjecting you to some of the songs again). Have we missed anything? Please let us know through the Contact Us section of the website.