England's Glory

Well now, what a fantastic whirlwind of fun for the Kal's Kats team.

Following our exciting journey with our inclusion in the Sir Daniel Day Lewis film Phantom Thread where we were invited to BBC Nottingham as well as BBC Radio Derby to chat about the film in general and also to play live on TV, we have now had the pleasure, via Ian Skye on BBC Radio Derby, to write an official World Cup anthem which was a perfect opportunity for us given that no official song had been written or recorded.

So our journey began following a session of Loudmouths at BBC Radio Derby, where Ian Skye and discussed the fact that no song had been written and perhaps we might like to get involved and of course I naturally jumped at the challenge.

I gathered the band guys together at our Wednesday night rehearsal to canvasse their thoughts and ideas and received some great feedback which then served start the creative juices flowing.

I've always enjoyed writing little ditties and verses and poems for special occasions etc and so felt this was a good one to try. The problem however was that id never really written a 'song' before. So how does one write an official England song that is likely to bet more than a few hundred listens.

So now i have a few options to consider with one of them being to listen to all the other 'masterpieces' that have been written including Vindaloo, 3 lions, Ant and Dec song etc, or i go with my gut instinct and play on my recollections of what fired me up when i was a little soccer playing kid and it was the latter that I chose, such that i won't be influenced in any way whatsoever and produce something that is literally 'original'

I knew in my mind that it needed to be a little cheesy by definition, something that would be 'ear worm' in nature and get into everyone's head hopefully in a nice way rather than an irritating way and then must have a catchy chorus that everyone could chant away even in the terraces.

Thus the beginnings of England's Glory began to take shape. I had the vision of this in my mind already and just wanted to eagerly put pen to paper and get my thoughts down for reproducibility so that i didn't forget these ideas spinning around. At the same time as that, I had the idea of the music flapping around as well and needed it to be a little fanfare style and so recorded a few mumblings onto my phone which I would then send to our trusty music score arranger/writer Mr Colin ibbertson, who has assisted us with so many of our original band arrangements over the past few years. I knew that when i sent him my basic piano recording as well as voice recordings that he will confidently bring back a decent soundtrack for us to use.

So then the verses, well, lets go back to when Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore led the 3 lions to victory in '66 - Clearly a pinnacle moment in British footballing history, so the song journey really needed to start there and thence form there, bring it to modern day with the new young aged team led by Gareth Southgate.

Now to add a little detail of some of the players and of course Alexander Arnold being one of the youngest 'stepper uppers' and then fellow colleagues Walker, Trippier and Rose all forming a solid defence. Sometimes i wish I could get n with the team to drive and motivate them to fire them up to see them all holding that cup - interesting that some of the pundits were saying Gareth Southgate has this young team and ooooh' how will they do. Well, what do we have to lose since all the so called great names over the past 52 !! years haven't stepped up to deliver so it's not necessarily where id be putting any reminiscing hopes. Let's get these young ambitious guys to the trophy table.

So, back to the lyrics and then the key message is to just do your best lads, clearly you want this just as much as anyone else does, you've got nothing to lose. See yourselves holding that cup up to the sky

Then of course the chorus and chanting England England, we're gonna win the cup, powering to Glory we're never giving up, 3 bold lions worn proudly on the chest, bring the world cup home again you're gonna be the best. Hopefully, it's the kind of chorus that folks will want to chant such that it forms a song but also becomes a stadium chant.

So now the ingredients were all ready and the 'stems' were recorded y a great friend of the band called Sam Lenord of J&S Sound who then transferred them to Rob Newman at Snug Recording Studio in Derby who then started to layer up the sounds and add the world cup winning commentary at the beginning of the song and of course a sincere thanks to Heidi Booth at BBC for coming out into the streets of Derby etc to get peoples ideas and thoughts of what the song should include in terms of verses and words etc.

Then a video was recorded at Mickleover sports stadium which included the band members running around the pitch along with football supporters and kids in the stand and also a video link to Sir Geoff Hurst and also a desperate Archie Gemmill trying to jump the fence to get in to the stadium as well as various footage recordings of goals being scored by the BBC staff and Craig Rammage (ex Derby Player) - so that video was produced by Alex and includes an abridged version of the 2.40sec song down to 1.40seconds, but you certainly get the flavour of the song and this is the BBC facebook link to the video

https://www.facebook.com/BBCRadioDerby/videos/1837034666353998/

This song England's Glory was first aired on Thursday 14th June and I was at the studio to listen to it go live and what a fab moment, i actually felt quite choked to hear the song go out to thousands of listeners live on air and the feedback we received via tests and messages was literally fantastic and such a buzz.

As of Monday morning the 18th June, I see that we are now at over 101k views with numerous shares and likes which is great exposure and sure testimony to the fact that the song is probably doing well to pique the interest of football and radio Derby followers alike.

This is the youtube link to the full song - Certainly hope you enjoy it and take it in the light hearted spirit of a bit of a fun song written, produced and recorded by a local swing band and associated colleagues for BBC Radio Derby

https://youtu.be/KghQbveLChg

Thanks go to all the Kal's Kats team as well as Sylvia Luke who helps out behind the scenes - as well as the numerous singers who provided the backing chant, to J&S Sound and Snug Recording Studio, Don Amott for the use of his stadium and of course Ian Skye at the BBC together with Heidi Booth, Alex, Peter Salter, Blake the rest of the team

So, whats next .........

Well, just in process of writing a band of Brothers type Help for Heroes song as well as a Christmas song due out a bit later of course.

Thanks folks