Despite Manic Street Preachers doing Wales proud (below), England don’t do official tournament songs any more. Fear not though, because Four Lions are on hand for the Euros with We Are England. Oddly though alongside Paul Oakenfold, Kermit and Goldie the track featuers Shaun Ryder who recently told Q “I don’t like football. I fucking hate it! It bores the tits off me…”, while Scottish author Irvine Welsh appears in the video. What gives?
“Irvine is in the video by default,” fellow Scott and band manger Alan McGee, who is behind the project, tells Q.
“Andeas, the video director asked me to be in it but I said I’d be killed in Glasgow for being in an England video, and Irvine who was staying with me at the time offered, as he’s really into boxing at the moment. So when you see all his dance moves in the video, he’s actually punching. I think Irvine thinks he’s video bombed an England video. In Glasgow we would say he was dancing like a drunken jakey!”
Ok, why is Mr Soccer Hater Ryder doing a football song… again. Apparently doing 1996 unofficial singleEngland’s Irie didn’t put him off, and he says he even managed to enjoy the experience this time at the expense of one of his collaborators.
“The funniest thing about making the video was that Paul Oakenfold still thought that record companies flew people in, never mind first class, any class, from the other side of world to make a appearance in a video!” he grins. “And he wanted a a free watch from Hublot or something. Brilliant!”
Ryder adds: “Hopefully our song and the video will send out a positive vibe to the England fans and put a smile on their faces. We made this for the real heroes of our country, the working men and women of England.”
Watch the videos for England and Wales’ songs now.
