I have to say this my one of my top three favourite version of YNWA. Roy Hamilton has such a beautiful soulful and classical voice combined.
I never heard of him until I watched an Elvis documentary and didn’t realise he was a huge influence on Elvis.
@craigjohnston was the first band that my wife and I connected on, when we first started dating.
Couple of different songs stuck in my head atm, 2 very different vibes though.
I thought this song was a Clash original, I think I like this version better than The Clash.
In response to the conversation in the Chelsea thread about why their fans are called plastic, I posted the lyrics from Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees. I’ve been obsessed ever since. There are some tracks that when I hear them I am compelled to stop whatever I’m doing and just focus on that. Fake Plastic Trees is one of those, even after 25 years. In my opinion it’s the best thing Radiohead ever did.
@Aurelio define “official anthem.” Vindaloo was released for the 98 world cup but there was nothing official about it.
Was World in Motion “official?”
There was a late night football show on (radio) 5 live that used to have Andy Brassell and Tim Vickory amongst its football experts. I think it was called world football phone in and was presented by Dotun Adebayo. It might still be around, but I liked the intro music.
Nothing will ever beat Aztec Gold - ITV’s 1986 world cup theme*. I think it is the only time ITV has ever gone head to head with the BBC (Aztec Lightning) and done it better.
*Nessun Dorma is not available for consideration.
Do I have to?
In my mind anything released for a tournament is out. I think most of those types of song are pretty rubbish anyway, apart from Three Lions which may the best ever song written about football. But it’s still out.
Not gonna lie, it’s a tough criteria.
So the band went to RAK studios in February of 1994 to create what eventually became The Bends. After a few unsuccessful months, a violinist and cellist showed up at the studio and the band decided to add their unique sounds into the working track for “Fake Plastic Trees.” There was one problem though: Yorke was in a very unstable mental state. The Radiohead frontman, who is known for his bouts of severe mood swings, seems to write his best material when he’s gone slightly off the deep end, and “Fake Plastic Trees” may be a perfect example. “That was one of the worst days for me,” Yorke later reminisced about the songwriting process. “I spent the first five or six hours at the studio just throwing a wobbly. I shouted at everyone, and then [producer] John Leckie sent everybody else away. He sat me down, and I did a guide vocal on ‘Fake Plastic Trees.’” Guitarist Johnny Greenwood added, “Thom played it in three takes then burst into tears afterward.”
it’s a brilliant song, I love this explanation of it:
We’ve already talked a lot about all the “fake-ness” going on in the song: fake plastic, fake earth, fake towns, fake people, etc. We get it – everything is manufactured and unnatural. But what’s the problem with that?
If you’re reading this on a computer (which, presumably, you are) you know that not everything that’s made of “fake” plastic and metal components is worthless. Lots of people use computers, lots of people drive cars, lots of people work in big skyscrapers, and lots of people go shopping and eat fast food. This song begins to get a little depressing considering the fact that if you live in a first-world nation (or even a big city in a developing nation), you have to drive, fly, or sail pretty far to get away from all the plastic and metal and other junk that surrounds our everyday lives. And then you’d have to abandon your car/boat/plane and proceed on foot because those things are made out of metal and plastic too. That’s a lot of work.
With some fans talking about reviving the Suarez chant for Diaz I’ve got this in my head along with some memories of sunshine in Liverpool circa 2014