Lyr Req: Football Crazy? / Fitba' Crazy

Subject: Football Crazy
From: Ulli
Date: 25 May 00 - 04:42 PM

I've searched the Digitrad and the Forum for the lyrics of Football Crazy. Some of the verses and the chorus are listed but not the complete lyrics. I'd particularly be interested in the version of Robin Hall & Jimmy MacGregor which is a bit different from the one found in the Digitrad. I'm sure there are some Scottish football experts and enthusiasts around who can help me in this matter. (with EURO2000 just a few weeks away I'd really appreciate the lyrics; the song also helps to get me into the right 'football' mood)
thanks
ulli

Subject: Lyr Add: FOOTBALL CRAZY
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 25 May 00 - 05:02 PM

I've got this version from Singing Together, Autumn 1968.

I have a favourite brother and his Christian name is Paul
He's lately joined a football club for he's mad about football.
He's got two black eyes already and teeth lost from his gob
Since Paul became a member of that terrible football club

Chorus
He's football crazy, He's football mad.
The football it has taken away the little bit of sense he had
And it would take a dozen servants to wash his clothes and scrub
Since Paul became a member of that terrible football club.

Chorus:

In the middle of the field one afternoon, the captain says to Paul
'Would you kindly take this place kick, since your mad about football.'
He took forty paces backward, shot off from the mark,
The ball went sailing over the bar and landed in New York.

Chorus:

His wife she says she'll leave him, if Paul he doesn't keep,
Away from football kicking at night time in his sleep.
He calls out 'Pass McGinty', and other things so droll.
Last night he kicked her out of the bed and swore it was a goal.

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Football Crazy
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 25 May 00 - 05:50 PM

yep.. I think Hall & McGregor's went something like

Ye all know my wee brother His name is Jock McGraw He's went and jined a fitba' club, for he's mad aboot fitba'

The last verse, they did..

Last night he kicked her oot the bed and shouted..

"IT'S A GOOOAAL!"

most of the differences from the version quoted were just dialect things..

Great song...

Cheers M'Dears...

StevenC

Subject: Lyr Add: FITBA' CRAZY
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 25 May 00 - 06:17 PM

Adam McNaughtan sings it on 'WordsWordsWords'. Here's his version:

He's fitba' crazy, he's fitba' mad
And the fitba' it has robbed him o' the wee bit sense he had
It would tak' a dozen skivvies his clothes tae wash and scrub (skivvies - servant girls)
Since Jock became a member o' that terrible fitba' club

The first match that he played in, I'm sure I saw it a'
They had twa bricks for the goalposts and a tin can for a ba'
When Jock took a place kick the ba' rose like a cork
Went soarin' o'er the buildings and it landed in New York

His wife said that she'll leave him if Jocky doesn't keep
Away from football kicking at night time in his sleep
He calls out, Pass, McGinty, and other things so droll
Last night he kicked her out of bed and shouted, It's a goal

[1983:] Singers have regarded this as a comparatively recent song. In fact, its original author, James Curran, who came to Glasgow from Donegal as a boy, died in 1900. I have here restored some of his lines, which the tradition, drawing on Irish sources, had dropped. (Notes Adam McNaughtan, 'WordsWordsWords')

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Football Crazy
From: AndyG
Date: 26 May 00 - 04:28 AM

I think I've only seen this single thread previously.
Football Crazy .

AndyG

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Football Crazy
From: Ulli
Date: 26 May 00 - 05:19 PM

Thanks to Jon, Chanty and Susanne. That's exactly what I had been looking for.
ulli
PS: there was a thread before, Andy, I know, but I started the thread again as it did not contain the the very things which I've just got from Jon, Chanty and Susanne

Subject: He's fooball crazy
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Oct 01 - 06:02 PM

The only senrences of this recording are
Well he's footballl crazy he's football mad
The fotball it did robbed him of all the wee lit'tle sense had had

Onother sentences says:
Last night he kicked her out of the bad and shouted it's a goal

can anyone provide me the complete lyrics and the singers of ths song

Does anyone know the group who sings this song And I would be very glad

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: GUEST,theo Wolters the Netherlands
Date: 11 Oct 01 - 06:04 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 11 Oct 01 - 06:06 PM

The Spinners did a version. Chorus -

"He's football crazy, he's football mad
He's even lost the little bit of sense he never had"

Perhaps Hughie Jones might supply the rest?

Are you there Hughie?

Cheers

Dave the Gnome

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Oct 01 - 06:07 PM

Clicketh thou here for a little further information.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: GUEST,Peter from Essex
Date: 11 Oct 01 - 06:14 PM

I knew this from Robin Hall and Jimmy McGregor on their spot on Tonight on the BBC in the dim and distant past.

McColl recorded it under the title Gaelic Football and this is available on Topic TSCD495 - Bold Sportsmen All - Gamblers and Sporting Blades. McColl learned it from Seamus Ennis.

I don't have a copy of the words.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 11 Oct 01 - 07:52 PM

Ah, dialects and spelling. Try a search for FITBA'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: toadfrog
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 01:01 AM

It's in the forum. CLICK HERE

Subject: Lyr Add: FOOTBALL CRAZY
From: curmudgeon
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 07:18 AM

What wasn't in the Forum link above, is in Ewan MacColl's collection, "Personal Choice." And if you don't happen to have a copy...

He's fitba crazy, he's gaen clean mad.
The fitba's robbed him o' the wee bit sense he had.
It'd tak a washerwoman, his claithes tae rub and scrub
Since oor Jock becam a member o' that awfu fitba club.

The first match he went tae play I gaed tae see mysel,
They'd twa half bricks for the goalposts and a tin can for the ba.
The Prince of Wales was there himsel' wi' a' his ladie fair
When oor Jock cam oot and kicked the ba' richt up intae the air.

Repeat first verse.

Hope this helps -- Tom

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: IanC
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 07:30 AM

Tom. That's the version in DT!

;-)
Ian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: JennieG
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 08:07 AM

Didn't Rolf Harris record this once too? many many moons ago?
Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: cyder_drinker
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 11:26 AM

I had the rolf Harris record as a kid.
It was (ISTR) the B side of "Jake the Peg".

Sadly lost many years ago now...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: MC Fat
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 11:27 AM

How can you be sad about losing a Rolf Harris record ?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 11:42 AM

Quite easily. Some of his early records were pretty good folk.

;-)
Ian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: cyder_drinker
Date: 12 Oct 01 - 08:06 PM

I wasn't sad at loosing the record, I was *gutted*.
Rolf is, in my opinion (and the other tens of thousands who saw him at Glastonbury Festival) a bit of a folk hero. Also the Wurzels, who, although not creating anything original for years, still sell out every gig they do.

Subject: Lyr Add: FITBA' CRAZY [FOOTBALL CRAZY] (Curran)
From: Nynia
Date: 13 Oct 01 - 05:58 PM

Adam McNaughtan, in his sleeve notes for "Words, Words, Words" states that the song was written by James Curran, who came to Glasgow from Donegal as a boy and died in 1900. He goes on to say, " I have here restored some of his lines, which the tradition, drawing on Irish sources, had dropped.

What??? You expect me to transcribe it for you too???

Oh OK then.


FITBA' CRAZY.

You a' know my big brither Jock, his right name's Johnny Shaw
Last week he joined a fitba' club for he's mad aboot fitba'
He's got two black eyes already and teeth oot by the root
Since Jock's face came in contact wi' anither fella's boot

Chorus: 'Cause he's fitba' crazy, he's fitba' mad
The fitba' it has ta'en away the wee bit sense he had.
And it wid take a dozen servants his claes tae wash an' scrub
Since Jock became a member o' that terrible fitba' club

The first game he took part in I wis there mysel' an' saw
They had twa half bricks for goalposts and a tin can for the ba'
The Prince O' Wales was present wi' lords and ladies grand
Oor Jock he got an egg box and he made a big grandstand

Oh a' the fitba' teams afloat he swears they are the prime
And ye want tae hear him bouncin' about beating record time
They've challenged every other side but nane will tak' them up
Since they beat the blind asylum for a leather plated cup

His wife she says she'll leave him if he disnae keep
Away frae playing fitba' at nightime in his sleep
He ca's her Pat McGinty an'ither names sae drole
Lasy night he kicked her oot the bed and swore it wis a goal


All the best,

Nynia.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 13 Oct 01 - 07:08 PM

Many thanks, Nynia!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: Hillheader
Date: 14 Oct 01 - 04:48 AM

Nynia

From memory most of the words are correct but I recall the first line as

"You all know my wee brother, his name is Jock McGraw".

change the word "Servants" to "skivvies". An alternative ending to the third verse has:

The Provost of Glesga he was there Wi' lords and ladies fair.
Our jock went oot and kicked the tin can three mile in the air".

A additional verse is:-

In the middle of the field at Hampden Park the captain said "McGraw"
"If you don't score with this penalty kick we'll never win at a'".
Jock ran like mad and kicked the ba' and it went up like a cork.
The last we saw it was o'er the stand and heading for New York.

This is the version that Robin Hall and Jimmy MacGregor sung.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: Nynia
Date: 14 Oct 01 - 04:04 PM

"From memory most of the words are correct but I recall the first line as...."

As was clearly stated Dave"bhoy" the above posting was transcribed from Adam McNaughtan's recording and not from anybody's memory, either perfect or flawed.

Thank you, however, for reminding me why it is that I don't bother to post on this forum anymore.


Nynia.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar
Date: 14 Oct 01 - 05:10 PM

Jimmy MacGregor claims copyright on the version he and Robin sang, as he says he wrote most of the words. PRS accept his claim. A sticky one!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: He's fooball crazy
From: Hillheader
Date: 14 Oct 01 - 05:40 PM

Nynia

My apologies. I was genuinely trying to be helpful but and did not intend any criticism. I was simply quoting the version I learned when a boy all too many years ago - as sung by Robin Hall and Jimmy MacGregor.

The other verse incidently is:-

His wife says she will leave him
That's if he disnae keep
Well away from fitba kickin'
In the night time in his sleep
For he thinks thats he's at Hampden
And he dreams that she's the ball
Last night he kicked her out the bed
And shouted "It's a goal"

However, if you do not post on this forum any more how did we get the question in the first place?

Davebhoy

Subject: Origins: football crazy
From: GUEST,Colin Bargery
Date: 19 Mar 07 - 10:06 AM

Does anyone know the origins of the song "football crazy, football mad" ? I first heard it sung by Robin Hall and Jimmie McGregor so I assume its Scottish and probably Glaswegian. Is it a folk song or an adoption from Music Hall ?

Subject: RE: Origins: football crazy
From: GUEST,Terry McDonald
Date: 19 Mar 07 - 10:14 AM

It appears on Ewan MacColl and A.L. Lloyd's 1958 LP, 'Bold Sportsmen All' and according to Lloyd (who wrote the sleeve notes) 'The song Football Crazy has been on the go for at least fifty years. The present version is local to Ireland, and was learned from Seamus Ennis, the well-known piper.'

Subject: RE: Origins: football crazy
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Mar 07 - 10:15 AM

31 March 2006
FITBA CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
Big 1960s folk hit is revealed as first ever football song
By George Mair

IT WAS made popular by Robin Hall and Jimmie Macgregor in the 60s - but now it seems that Fitba'j Crazy was actually the world's first football song.

An early version of the comedy turn has been uncovered - in a penny news-sheet from the 1880s.

The Dooley Fitba Club is the original version of the song, written by Glaswegian James Curran.

Experts say it marks the emergence of football as a huge part of popular culture.

It was published in Dundee in the form of a broadside - the single sheet equivalent of today's papers.

With four verses and chorus, the song also features "patter" delivered between verses by comedienne JG McDonald to her music hall audience.

She even makes reference to Rangers, against whom Dooley - an old Scots word for sorrowful or dopey - had supposedly played a charity match.

A rare printed copy of the broadside is now kept at the National Library of Scotland.

Rare books curator Eoin Shalloo said yesterday: "This is the earliest song about organised football that we are aware of - you'd certainly struggle to find one older because it coincides with the birth of the modern game.

"The broadside doesn't have a date on it but James Curran was a popular songwriter and parodist in the late 19th century.

"At the height of his fame, he earned between £10 and £15 a week, a huge sum at the time - but he was a drinker and died in the Glasgow poorhouse in the 1890s."

Veteran football pundit Bob Crampsey said: "It was the very early stages so the timing would be about right for this to be the first football song.

"Crowds grew because of the railway and the notion of not working all day on a Saturday emerged."

The full song can be seen in The Word on the Street, an online exhibition at website www.nls.uk.

From the Scottish Daily Record of the date at the head of the article.
Giok

Subject: RE: Origins: football crazy
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Mar 07 - 04:43 PM

Giok:
Nice article. A few 'clickable links' might help it along.
Is that date at the top (31st March 2006) the date of publication, or the date the story was written (for publication the next day[April 1st!]).

The link required is National Library of Scotland

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: Origins: football crazy, football mad
From: GUEST,Colin Bargery
Date: 20 Mar 07 - 05:13 AM

Thanks all. great stuff.

Subject: RE: Origins: football crazy, football mad
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Mar 07 - 05:29 AM

Date of actual publication according to the newspaper's web site Nigel.
G

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Football Crazy? / Fitba' Crazy
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 27 May 11 - 07:04 AM

Hi, everybody! I'm listening to a version of 'football crazy' with Johnny Beattie but can't rally get the words right. It's hard with Scots... I tried to write it down, can anyone correct me?
Thanks!

He's fitba crazt noo, he's jongling mad
the fitba game has robbed him o the wee bit sense he had
noo he's cut doon all his drinkin and the winchie it was crumped
when oor Jock became a member o that terrible fitba club

Noo Jock supports the celtic and he cheers the rangers too
it all does seem to him as it was green and white and blue
he went to see an earthy match tae cheer them baith like loun
poor Jockey and the dump he get as flattned as the crown

He's fitba crazt noo, he's jongling mad
the fitba game has robbed him o the wee bit sense he had
noo he's cut doon all his drinkin and the winchie it was crumped
when oor Jock became a member o that terrible fitba club

The only game he every played, diminutve yellow
he got a trial for Poodle Queens and played it handed part
when he was shown the yellow cab, he made this earnest plea
what, shut up limmon fassa or we'll kick the referee

He's fitba crazt noo, he's jongling mad
the fitba game has robbed him o the wee bit sense he had
noo he's cut doon all his drinkin and the winchie it was crumped
when oor Jock became a member o that terrible fitba club

One year he went to Wembley and wan the scots at one
he ran onto that football pitch and tought he had some fun
he dug up some big dochter toughs their idiots guardin yets
and the stringish T he's wearing it is made from Wembley nets

He's fitba crazt noo, he's jongling mad
the fitba game has robbed him o the wee bit sense he had
noo he's cut doon all his drinkin and the winchie it was crumped
when oor Jock became a member o that terrible fitba club

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Football Crazy? / Fitba' Crazy
From: GUEST,Jane Ann Liston
Date: 27 May 11 - 08:01 AM

Unlikely to be 'crazt' - should be 'crazy'.

4th verse - it will be yellow 'card' not 'cab'.

Penultimate verse - first line, end is probably:

',,, whan the Scots had won'. 3rd line - that will be 'turf's not 'toughs'. I think it was 1977 when after Scotland actually won at Wembley, the fans celebrated by taking bits of turf away as a souvenir. Others climbed onto the goal posts which of course collapsed. For years my father. a Kirk elder, had a piece of orange nylon cord on the wall which he said was from the goal!

Last verse - 3rd line the word is probably 'winchin' (being familiar with a young lady, m'lud) and 'cramped' rather than 'crumped.

The earlier posting referring to 'Singing Together in 1968' explains why my little brother came home around that time singing 'Football Crazy' whereas I knew it as 'Fitba Crazy', probably from Hall & Macgregor. I just thought that his school, George Heriot's, had insisted on 'proper' English rather than Scots!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Football Crazy? / Fitba' Crazy
From: Jim McLean
Date: 27 May 11 - 03:39 PM

This song/derivation has been covered many times, I think, but I must comment on "jongling mad". Johnny was sing "he's gone clean mad".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Football Crazy? / Fitba' Crazy
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 28 May 11 - 10:52 AM

That makes sense, Jim. Thanks.

You can hear this song on YouTube.   There's a version sung by Hall & MacGregor. I think they sing it too fast. In my opinion, that pace has 'television producer' stamped all over it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Football Crazy? / Fitba' Crazy
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 29 May 11 - 08:23 AM

"Crazt" or "crazed" means the same as "crazy", and scans better in that version (which I haven't heard)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Football Crazy? / Fitba' Crazy
From: Jim McLean
Date: 29 May 11 - 09:39 AM

The transcriber of the Johnny Beattie version wrote 'crazt noo' but Johnny sang 'crazy', two syllables and no 'noo' (the noo!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Football Crazy? / Fitba' Crazy
From: Jim McLean
Date: 29 May 11 - 10:26 AM

I should have said Johnny sings ' he's fitba' crazy now, he's gone clean mad" ... slightly posher than the usual Glasgow version, (now instead of noo).