The ShortListen: Four Lions (no. 326)
Shaun Ryder, Kermit, Goldie & Paul Oakenfold team up for an England song
Who? Shaun Ryder, Kermit, Paul Oakenfold, Goldie, aka Four Lions
What’s the story? Black Grape's 1996 track England's Irie is one of the great lost football songs (it's not even on Spotify these days). It was a brilliantly off-kilter track which had the sheer misfortune to be released at the same time as Three Lions. Now, 20 years on, they've gone one better, by forming Four Lions: made up of Shaun Ryder and Kermit, together with Paul Oakenfold, who produced the Happy Mondays' classic Pills 'N' Thrills and Bellyaches, with Goldie chipping in for good measure. We are England probably isn't quite as euphoric as England's Irie, but it's a spirited, bouncing, baggy anthem with rave pianos and a sing-a-long chorus that sounds like it could have come straight off that legendary Madchester album. An excellent addition to the football song canon.
For fans of: Happy Mondays, Black Grape
In three words: Madchester Footy Revival
