Is Teenage Kicks the new anthem for Saints.
As Saints young side trooped off to the cheers of the St Mary's crowd on Tuesday, the PA blared out Teenage Kicks by The Undertones and perhaps never has a record been so apt for a team, of the players on the in the squad most are are either still in their teens or not far out of them.
But its not just the title of the song that resonates with Saints at the moment, but the history of the band that made the record bears parallels.
The Undertones came out of belfast in 1978 shortly after the arrival of Punk and where seen by their peers in England as being naive and inexperienced, even in a genre that had started with this as a statement not a disadvantage, the music press sneered at them as being cartoon punk and not at all in the same league as fellow Belfast boys Stiff Little Fingers, however certain people championed them, not least influential DJ John Peel who till his dying day claimed Teenage Kicks as his favourite ever record, no mean feat, when you look at the vast knowledge of music the man had.
The Undertones went on to make many great singles and indeed albums. however were any as brilliant as Teenage Kicks, thats open to debate, however one thing is for sure with its monstrous opening riff and anthem like chorus its an apt song for Saints and their fans to adopt as their own at this time. The lyrics of course are about something other than football, although its easily adaptable.
Teenage dreams so hard to beat
Everytime she walks down the street
Another girl in the neighbourhood
Wish she was mine, she looks so good
I wanna hold you wanna hold you tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night
I'm gonna call her on the telephone
Have her over 'cause i'm all alone
I need excitement oh i need it bad
And she's the best, i've ever had
I wanna hold you wanna hold you tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night
I wanna hold you wanna hold you tight
Get teenage kicks right through the night
If you are not familiar with the song then check it out, its on numerous punk compilations in the likes of HMV and even supermarkets and it wont break the bank to buy one of them, its about time we had another anthem apart from Oh when the Saints.