THE CD SINGLE LUCKY DIP (24) : Black Grape – England’s Irie

The 2026 FIFA World Cup got underway yesterday. Being on holiday in a country that didn’t qualify I reckoned would have meant my ability to keep up with things would have been limited, but it turns out that among the many upgrades my hotel has had from a massive refurb programme is a state-of-the-art TV/entertainment package in each room.  I’ve just come off the beach at 4.30pm and found there’s loads of channels showing the opening match – 1-0 to Mexico after 65 minutes as I type.

I thought I’d dig out a football related tune for today, one that is now thirty years old.

England was the host nation back of European Football Championships in 1996.  This was an occasion when Scotland’s group involved a match against the host nation, a game we went onto lose 2-0.  Incidentally, the game took place on the same weekend as Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton went on a bender in Glasgow, as recounted in The First Weekend of The Summer, the debut single by Arab Strap, with one of the lines in the song making reference to the football match.

The comedian Keith Allen, (and dad of future pop star Lily Allen) having been part of the NewOrderEngland set-up responsible for the 1990 hit World In Motion, decided he should get in on the act for Euro 96, but the offer for the official song had been made to Ian Broudie/Lighting Seeds, who collaborated with the comedians Frank Skinner and David Baddiel to come up with Three Lions.  Having been rebuffed, Keith decided to seek out and gain the help of a couple of English musical legends.

mp3: Black Grape (featuring Joe Strummer and Keith Allen) – England’s Irie

It’s a football anthem and it’s totally ramshackle.  But it’s great fun.  Shawn Ryder sounds, as usual, as if he’s off his tits on some drug or other.  The lyrics are all over the place, cynical in some places but nonsenical for the most part.  Joe Strummer‘s contribution is reduced largely to backing vocals.  Unbelievably, this made it all the way to #6 in the charts and led to a Top of The Pops appearance – and while The Clash, famously, never appeared on the programme, Joe shuffled his way onto the stage back in 1996.

There were three remixes added to the CD single:-

mp3: Black Grape (featuring Joe Strummer and Keith Allen) – England’s Irie (Pass The Durazac Mix)
mp3: Black Grape (featuring Joe Strummer and Keith Allen) – England’s Irie (Suedehead Dub)
mp3: Black Grape (featuring Joe Strummer and Keith Allen) – England’s Irie (Mel’s L.A. Irie  Mix)

The thing is, I can’t spot any differences between the Duruzac Mix and the Suedehead Dub…….

JC