Last week, after we featured Simple Minds and Jimmy ‘Jinky’ Johnstone’s cover of the Pogues ‘Dirty Ol’ Town’, we received a message that it wasn’t Jimmy’s first choice of song to sing. According to our source (John Reid (@comicsnob)) Jimmy had requested Bon Jovi’s classic nineties power ballad ‘Bed of Roses’. If you know your Bon Jovi (not that anyone would ever admit that they do), lead singer and songwriter Jon Bon Jovi wrote ‘Bed of Roses’ after he woke up sozzled in a hotel room with a raging hangover and surrounded by bottles of wine. No wonder then it was one of legendary drinker Jimmy’s favourite songs.
This week, we cast our eyes and ears over another classic tune: Love is in the Air by John Paul Young as covered by Dundee Utd for the 2010 Scottish Cup final.
Love is in the Air has been sung at Tannadice for nearly 20 years. It is commonly thought to have been adopted by fans of the club during the Scandinavian invasion of the early 90s. It achieved tipping point and unofficial anthem status after Dundee United’s famous 1-0 victory in the Scottish cup over Rangers in 1994 – Dundee United’s first ever Scottish Cup triumph. Back then, in honour of Kjell Olofsson, it was however sung as “Olof’s in the Air”.
To commemorate their 2010 appearance in the Scottish Cup final the Dundee United players popped along to St John’s RC High School in Dundee to record backing vocals for a new version of the song being produced by the school. This clip of the players singing with school children shows that Craig Thomson is not the only footballer making inappropriate moves in a classroom. Keep an eye on “Desperate” Danny Swanson – even you Dad would be ashamed of those shapes!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sva8vmTlUM4&w=420&h=315]
Your songs: If you have a song you would like to nominate for the SCFC Hall of Fame please let us know via the comments below.
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About the Author
After too many years as season ticket holder at Parkhead, Andy Todd renounced the SPL three years ago to support Queens Park. One team is a rank bunch of amateurs who play in a state of the art stadium and the other is…(I think we can all see where this is going).
Andy has been performing comedy for 18 months but is currently ‘between gigs’ while he writes a book on Scottish property law to be published in Summer 2012. Its potential audience will be less than 300 but his mum will be very proud.
Follow Andy on Twitter: @toddandy
Check out Andy’s website: www.toddandy.com
