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The Fair Play Trophy (again) (1998)

from The Lost Tape by MJ Hibbett

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One afternoon in 1998 Sean from Fortuna Pop! emailed me with a GRATE Popm Idea to do an EP of unofficial World Cup anthems. I said it was a brilliant idea, which it is, wrote the song on the way home from work, then sorted out the chords and middle-eight a couple of days later so that when, as hoped, he told me to write it I already had.

It was mostly recorded in my attic with the trumpet and wobbly alien vocals being done at Frankie Machine's house. The backing vocals were recorded in The Durham Ox with the core of the group that would very soon become The Durham Ox Singers.

This version got played on John Peel, which was my first proper radio play. To celebrate me and Tim went to the pub where I listened to him talk about Power Stations. It wasn't quite what I'd expected National Fame to be like. We were also asked to appear on the "Under the Moon" TV Programme singing it, but we were booked to play the day after The England vs. Argentina game, and once David Beckham had got sent off nobody felt like listening to a song about Fair Play anymore.

lyrics

England are a team of virtuous Saints
They exercise super-human restraint
Their gentlemanly conduct leaves the opposition feeling moved
They'll never swear and they'll never frown
They'll never ever claim that they were wrongly taken down
And maybe you might say that that's the reason they always lose.

But we'll win the Fair Play Trophy once again.
Because it's the team that's the nicest that's the one that actually wins
We'll get the Fair Play Trophy once again, and face the final in the pub with a pint and a cheesy grin.

I really hope that we get through the groups
If they manage that i don't care what they do
If we get beat by Mozambique then you won't see me cry
We could get thrashed by Holland or Spain
Or get knocked out on penalties by Germany again
But as long as we keep that stiff upper lip flying high

We'll get the Fair Play Trophy once again.
Because it's the team that's the nicest that's the one that actually wins
We'll get the Fair Play Trophy once again, and face the final in the pub with a pint and a cheesy grin.

And if we get to the final and win
No matter what terrible drunken state we're in
We will take back the Jules Rimet
And as a Nation we will say:

We want the Fair Play Trophy once again.
Because it's the team that's the nicest that's the one that actually wins
Give us the Fair Play Trophy once again, and we'll face the final in the pub with a pint and a cheesy grin

credits

from The Lost Tape, released June 7, 2004

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MJ Hibbett & The Validators London, UK

MJ Hibbett & The Validators have performed live on Radio One, had a Record Of The Year in Rolling Stone, an Album Of The Day on 6Music, released one of the first ever viral videos, toured the UK and Europe, featured in an Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, and recorded a science fiction rock opera, all while maintaining their complete independence from outside record labels. ... more

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