"But there's only four of us" said Reginald Dwight to his pay masters at Hallmark Records when they asked him to cover the England 1970 Mexico World Cup tub thumping anthem Back Home. That's right, the future Elton John and his then band couldn't even muster a 5-a-side team, let alone the 22 man squad who sang (mostly in tune) the football anthem to end all football anthems.
All things considered, I think Elton makes a decent fist of it. Oo-er missus.
Top of the Poppers - Back Home (1970)
I've still got my original 'Back Home' single. The 1970 World Cup marked the peak of my footy fandom. I was 10 years old. In the wake of Brazil's superhuman performances in that tournament, I think I must've somehow instinctively known that I had no hope of ever seeing the game played that majestically ever again and gradually gave up on it. Despite not having any interest in football for nearly 50 years, even I know that this is sheer bloody poetry in motion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5HbmeNKino
ReplyDeleteI've written about Mexico 70 on here a couple of times now - the Esso coins and the ridiculously good 'B' side to the single - and yes, everything that followed has been an anticlimax.
DeleteThe link you attached of Brazil is quite simply (and thank you to Alan Partridge) liquid football!