Compiled by PA Sport staff
Last updated March 1 2006
World Cup songs tend to land somewhere between the toe-curlingly awful, the fantastically misguided, and the bigoted. We’ve chosen 10 of the most memorable, taking you down memory lane with lyrics from the records we never dare admit we bought.
1. Vindaloo - Fat Les (unofficial England song 1998)
(amid the nah-nah-nahs) "Me and me Mum and me Dad and me Gran/We're off to Waterloo/Me and me Mum and me Dad and me Gran/And a bucket of Vindaloo/ Vindaloo, vindaloo/Vindaloo, vindaloo, vindaloo, nah-nah."
2. Ally's Tartan Army - Andy Cameron (unofficial Scotland song 1978)
"We're on the march with Ally's Army/We're going to the Argentine/And we'll really shake them up, when we win the World Cup/Because Scotland is the greatest football team."
3. Back Home - England World Cup squad (official England song 1970)
"Back home/They'll be watching and waiting and cheering every move/Back home/Though we think we're the greatest/That's what we've got to prove."
4. New Order - World In Motion (official England song 1990)
"Catch me if you can/Cos' I'm the England man/And what you're looking at/Is the master plan."
5. Top Of The World - Echo And The Bunnymen/Spice Girls (official England song 1998)
"In streets all over the nation/Are goals we painted on the walls/ Where all our hopes and expectations/Are the world inside a ball."
6. Don't Come Home Too Soon - Del Amitri (official Scotland song 1998)
"So long, go on and do your best/Let all France have whisky on its breath/The world may not be shaking yet but you might prove them wrong/Even long shots make it."
7. The Cup of Life - Ricky Martin (official tournament song - 1998)
"Here we go! ale, ale ale!/Go, go, go! Ale, ale ale!/Arriba va! El mundo esta de pie/Go, go, gol!! ale, ale, ale"
8. Three Lions - Baddiel, Skinner, the Lighting Seeds (unofficial England song 1998)
"We can dance Nobby's dance/We could dance it in France."
9. Udo Jurgens - Buenos dias, Argentina (official German song - 1978)
"Hello Argentina!/ It's taken a long time to get here/ But now I swivel my sombrero/ Hello - I'm here."
10. Rod Stewart - Ole Ola (official Scottish song 1978)
"We got Dalglish, Buchan and Macari/We got Archie Gemmill, Johnstone and McQueen/We got Big Joe Jordan waiting at the middle and the best support this world has ever seen/We got Donachie, Rioch and Don Masson/We got Andy Gray and Asa Hartford too/And with this lethal combination it's a fair estimation/That the World Cup will be ours the end of June."
