Musical Madness

Last updated : 23 September 2004 By Richard Oldroyd

After the introduction of 500 Miles for no reason other than that it tied into a marketing campaign less than a year ago, we were treated to a quick Tony Christie number. Is this The Way To Amarillo made its debut as the barnstorming pre-match anthem, with mixed results.

Undoubtedly, the general consensus was that it is a vast improvement on 500 miles. Which is hardly a surprise, given that the connection of that particular song to Burnley has always been a little hard to fathom, unless The Proclaimers were closet Burnley fans.

At least this latest offering has a little more in common with Burnley, sort of, given that its most recent public airing came on a comedy set in a Lancashire mill town, Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights.

Unfortunately, that the town in question was Bolton, and surprise, surprise, I’m told it’s already a fixture down at the Reebok. So really, the song has nothing to do with us whatsoever, unless you take the attitude that all these mill towns are the same really - which is the kind of reasoning I’m used to hearing from southerners unacquainted with the world north of Watford. It’s slightly more alarming to see Burnley adopting an anthem more appropriate to one of our chief rivals, although I suppose it would be worse if Kay had chosen Blackburn as his backdrop.


In any event, I’m not a big fan of this trend towards big family sing-alongs prior to kick off. I know it’s designed to whip the crowd into a frenzy as the players run out, but in practice it results in a lot of bemused faces and a crush as people enter the ground once it’s all over. It probably works better at clubs which have long-established anthems of this type which people feel comfortable singing with or without the Karaoke element – say at Stoke, which they can stick on Delilah – but we do not have that luxury.


Instead, we have a rather unfortunate situation where the club are desperately attempting to find one that we’ll all sing anyway. It doesn’t work. Football anthems can’t be imposed upon fans; they have to develop organically, perhaps spontaneously, in the stands. I’ve heard various tales over the years about when, and why, No Nay Never developed into a terrace anthem – but you can be sure that it wasn’t as a result of any PA announcer playing Wild Rover prior to kick off.


I know that the potential for chants to develop in this way has been diminished by the development of all-seater stadia. It’s one of the most powerful arguments for bringing back terracing, however futile that debate may be. But however genuine these attempts to fill the void are, they are misguided. We may well be a bit short of things to sing these days – it’s a topic all of itself – yet none of the initiatives we’ve seen recently are truly worthwhile.

I include in this the efforts of Jeff Brown prior to the match. Genuine Claret though he undoubtedly is, it simply hasn’t worked. Nor does goal music: a goal ought to rouse the fans without the need for cheap inspiration - yet rather than enhance the atmosphere, goal music seems to nip it in the bud, with no-one entirely sure what to do once it’s finished.

The truth of the matter is, the only modern stadia with a proper atmosphere are those which are full, and usually the ones which are fully enclosed. It helps, too, if the stands are steeply banked so that the fans are tight to the pitch – like, for example, White Hart Lane, or St James’ Park. So whilst Turf Moor remains as it is, and until performances on the pitch attract a few more bodies into Turf Moor, the unfortunate truth is that Turf Moor will rarely be the intimidating venue that it could be.


And what of the music to accompany the entrance of the players? We’ve had a few tunes over the years. Chumbawumba – a band who do have a Burnley connection – was one of the better ones. But if it were up to me, Burnley would always run out to strains of Tina Turner, Simply The Best.

Why? Because when I first began watching Burnley, they played it then. And even now, when I hear it, I associate it with the electrifying moment when anticipation gives way to excitement. Maybe it’s purely a result of those formative years of watching the Clarets – perhaps many people believe the music chosen when they first started going is the right tune to return to.

But regardless, 500 miles will always be more associated with Student nights in university clubs than Turf Moor, and Is This The Way To Amarillo will forever be linked to that brilliant Phoenix Nights scene. They’ll never feel quite right for Burnley. Tina does, at least to yours truly.

Besides, it conveys that truth that every Burnley supporter knows. We are simply the best, otherwise we’d support somebody else; every other supporter of every other club is simply misguided. There is no other club. Even if it does play some very silly music.