17 May 1990
“World Cup! English clubs! / Kevin Moran and the Dubs!” – that’s the one! This wasn’t the first sporting-themed single by Irish band The Memories; in 1974 they had a top ten hit with ‘The Likes Of Heffo’s Army’ celebrating Dublin’s All-Ireland win that year. Intriguingly, ten years later they had an Irish top twenty hit with a cover of ‘Stairway To Heaven’. Finally, they get to the top of the charts with their Italia ’90 song. When I say ‘they’, I mean quite a lot of people; The Memories changed members at a Sugababes rate down through the years, which explains why the band in the video below are relatively young and hairy rockers rather than a well-groomed ’70s showband, and which makes the ‘Stairway’ cover seem less odd now.
As for ‘The Game’, it’s their lyrics set to the tune of ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’. Any song dependent on Billy Joel is already starting at a disadvantage in life, of course. That said, there are highlights. This is probably the only Irish number one single—or number one single anywhere in the world—to namecheck my fellow Kerry person Con Houlihan, the doyen of Irish sportswriters. It isn’t afraid to tackle controversial issues: “Trouble on the terraces!” “Brady should be in the squad!” And unlike ‘Give It A Lash Jack’ it sounds like a record that was made for and by people with a double-digit reading age. However, The Memories only occupy the number one spot for a week: now the big dogs are about to join the Italia ’90 chart battle.
