"I'm Following Sheffield United" song by Alan Martin (Interrupted by Bobby Knutt)

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Greenwich Blade

Greenwich Blade

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I picked this classic 7"-single up on Discogs last week and it's as awfully wonderful as I remembered it to be. Does anyone know what year it came out? It doesn't have a date on the disc anywhere, although I reckon it was either 1977, 1978 or 1979. There is commentary mentioning Woody at the beginning so that points to 1977 or 1978, but with lyrics of "They're the greatest team of the year..." then it must have been 1898.


United.JPG
 



Yeah, go on Greenwich. It's not online anywhere.

Did it make the charts? Top 100 perhaps?
 
Asabanana said:
any chance of getting that uploaded to youtube?
Click to expand...

I warn you, it's a proper vinyl fry-up with Rice Krispies added into the mix! The plan was to play it on my radio show next week, after which it gets uploaded to Mixcloud, but you never know, I might spare you having to wade through a ton of Gentle Giant and Godspeed You! Black Emperor just to hear Bobby Knutt and Alan Martin leaving the studio to head down to the Mucky Duck, and sneak it onto YouTube or something.
 
Funnily enough, I remember it. Doesn't it go something like this?

"I'm following Sheffield United
I'll follow the Blades till the end of time
I'm following Sheffield United"
 
Dkc said:
Funnily enough, I remember it. Doesn't it go something like this?

"I'm following Sheffield United
I'll follow the Blades till the end of time
I'm following Sheffield United"
Click to expand...

Yep; not forgetting the end of the earth, greatest team in the land etc. It's intentionally funny and corny.
 
Meanwhile, whilst I'm thinking about my fabulous radio show, the latest edition is mentioned elsewhere, like this:

"Included in this week's Playlist: Pigs by Pink Floyd, Bouncer by Anthony Phillips, Bounce by Run DMC, and Benny the Bouncer by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Because some things will NEVER stop being funny."

 
Greenwich Blade said:
I picked this classic 7"-single up on Discogs last week and it's as awfully wonderful as I remembered it to be. Does anyone know what year it came out? It doesn't have a date on the disc anywhere, although I reckon it was either 1977, 1978 or 1979. There is commentary mentioning Woody at the beginning so that points to 1977 or 1978, but with lyrics of "They're the greatest team of the year..." then it must have been 1898.


View attachment 31752
Click to expand...

I got it when it originally came out as a single ... what year???? Not '79, I'd say '77 rather than '78, don't think it was released when Haslam was manager and he took over Jan '78. I'd associate it more with the Jimmy Squirrel era, yeah 1977 if I was a betting man!
 
Greenwich Blade said:
I picked this classic 7"-single up on Discogs last week and it's as awfully wonderful as I remembered it to be. Does anyone know what year it came out? It doesn't have a date on the disc anywhere, although I reckon it was either 1977, 1978 or 1979. There is commentary mentioning Woody at the beginning so that points to 1977 or 1978, but with lyrics of "They're the greatest team of the year..." then it must have been 1898.


View attachment 31752
Click to expand...
Around 15/20 years ago I was talking to Knutt in a club in South Elmsall about the record, I asked him if he could get me a copy? he laughed and said ‘that tin-pot record company wouldn’t even let me have a freeby’ Think it’s a great nostalgic reference of when clubs started bringing out club records like Leeds, Man U, Spurs, Chelsea etc. I remember the ‘B’ Side was good? (What was the ‘B’ side?
 
Lawrence said:
Around 15/20 years ago I was talking to Knutt in a club in South Elmsall about the record, I asked him if he could get me a copy? he laughed and said ‘that tin-pot record company wouldn’t even let me have a freeby’ Think it’s a great nostalgic reference of when clubs started bringing out club records like Leeds, Man U, Spurs, Chelsea etc. I remember the ‘B’ Side was good? (What was the ‘B’ side?
Click to expand...

"A Different Sort Of Me"; I haven't listened to it yet.
 
Greenwich Blade said:
Meanwhile, whilst I'm thinking about my fabulous radio show, the latest edition is mentioned elsewhere, like this:

"Included in this week's Playlist: Pigs by Pink Floyd, Bouncer by Anthony Phillips, Bounce by Run DMC, and Benny the Bouncer by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Because some things will NEVER stop being funny."

Click to expand...


Further to all that, Pigs by Floyd kicks off the first half of the show, and my "Bouncing Day" triumvirate starts the second period, coming in around the 58 minute mark. It's worth listening right to the end of Benny The Bouncer (I know, I know) because, even though I say so myself, my post-bouncing-songs comments are worth a chuckle or two.
 



I have the single (theres a reference to Englebert Wincobank near the end hence my forum name).

It's also included on a double album of football songs called Flair 1989. It has a young Nigel Clough on the cover and TC on the back.

Some quality stuff on here. Firhill For Thrills is a real favourite.
 

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DSJ Blade said:
I have it on mp3 if you know how I can upload it? :)
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If you have a Google account you should be able to upload it to Youtube

Alternatively, if you PM me you can email the file to me and I'll upload it
 
Englebert Wincobank said:
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I remember reading a review of this album in When Saturday Comes when it first came out.

Meanwhile, you'll be delighted to know that on my forthcoming radio show (this Tuesday, 10pm, Brooklands Radio!) I follow up Alan Martin & Bobby Knutt with Lesbian Seagull by Englebert Wincobank, er, I mean, Humperdinck, from the Beavis & Butthead Do America soundtrack album.
 
When I was a kid- I worked at a holiday camp and Alan Martin was the Ted Bovis style compere. He was from the Manchester area and told me that he had pitched versions of the song to Oldham Athletic and Manchester City. One night- he was working a club with Bobby Knutt and they decided to record it because the Sheffield United had the right number of syllables for the chorus.
 



And here it is, my latest Mixcloud Upload featuring, amongst many other things, my tribute to Bobby Knutt, courtesy of DSJ Blade 's fantastic less-bumpy-than-mine version of I'm Following Sheffield United. Sorry that I didn't give you an on-air acknowledgement, DSJ, but I'd already recorded the show with my fry-up mix and had to get my boss to drop your MP3 into the recording.

You can also hear me afterwards - well, after Englebert Wincobank, er, sorry, Humperdinck - speculating as to who will be managing England in 2022 and how Sheffielders might pronounce "Quatar".

 
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