The first in an occasional series celebrates arguably the most famous song by The Hitchers, a punkish rock group from Limerick, Ireland. If I remember rightly, this single, which was a double A side (backed with ‘You Can Only Love Someone’), made John Peel’s Festive 50 in 1997, and there’s not much higher praise than that.
The lyrics are essentially a paean to Gordon Strachan and the great Leeds United side he played in:
The crowd were on their feet and they whistled and
they cheered for the tiny wee Scotsman
with the copper coloured hair
Click below to watch The Hitchers play ‘Strachan’ live, and read the full lyrics…
The lyrics, if you want to sing along:
She waited for the match to start
to start a fight up with me.
She said, “What’s that you’re watching?”,
“It’s a programme about art”.
She said, “A programme about art?”, I said
“A programme about art” and then the greatest
midfield artist of them all walked out onto the park.
The crowd were on their feet and they whistled and
they cheered for the tiny wee Scotsman
with the copper coloured hair.
She said, “You just don’t care, You never listen you know…”
Lukic out to Wetherall and Wetherall to Dorigo.
Dorigo knocks it on to Fairclough, Fairclough looks for Speed.
Now she’s ranting like a lunatic, “I’m switching off that telly”.
“Look at me while I’m talking to you!”
To Strachan now, puts Kelly through
There’s one man pulling all the strings and twenty-two
know damn well who.
The air begins to thicken. Inside the box Strachan has stricken
The gap unfilled -he makes the kill -One-Nil!
She waited for the match to start
to start a fight up with me.
She said, “what’s that you’re watching?”,
“It’s a programme about art”.
She said, “A programme about art?”, I said
“A programme about art” and then the artist
tackles perfectly and floats over the park
to the waiting Rodney Wallace who knocks
it back in to Deane and now the Deane Machine
to McAllister and McAllister’s just seen
that Gordon Strachan slipped his marker
and he’s free now in space
he’s got ’em pouring forward spraying the ball
all over the place.
Now Gary Speed is involved again, he steadies the ball.
“Am I talking to myself?”, she says, “or talking to the wall?”
“Will you look at me while I’m talking to you!”
To Strachan now, puts Fairclough through
There’s one man pulling all the strings and twenty-two
know damn well who.
The air gets even thicker.
The ‘keepers quick – Gordon Strachan’s quicker.
The gap unfilled, he makes the kill -Two-Nil!
She waited for the match to start
to start a fight up with me.
She said, “what’s that you’re watching?”,
“It’s a programme about art”.
“If you don’t take your grief and bad vibes and get out of my face
I’m gonna sit right here and whistle my way through Melrose Place”
You could’ve lit the air in the room with a matchstick,
McAllister’s cross sets up Strachan’s hat-trick
The gap unfilled, Strachan’s skill – Three-Nil!
Incidentally, the song was written by The Hitchers drummer. His name… Niall Quinn!