Calling the tune

We talk to actor and Cardiff City fan Jonny Owen about the best ever football songs and his new film Svengali.

What makes a great football song? The tune, its singability on the terraces or simply it capturing a moment in time? To try and answer the puzzle we've turned to a man who knows a thing or two about music, football and popular culture - Jonny Owen. The Welsh actor, producer and writer is the star of new film 'Svengali' and used his in-depth musical knowledge to compile its stunning, mod-influenced soundtrack (Small Faces, Miles Kane, The Stone Roses, Jake Bugg etc). Here, Jonny gives his views on the five best football songs in terms of chart sales, other classic football records, the musically-aware players most likely to come and watch 'Svengali' and his views on his beloved Cardiff City. 'Three Lions' - Baddiel and Skinner, 1996 Well, it didn't sell many in Wales and Scotland (laughs). But it was a perfect storm I think. It had been six years since Italia '90 which had turned the middle classes onto football again, the Premier League had been building since '92 and the brand was growing and it was a really good England team with a manager, Terry Venables, in his pomp really. And then that song came out. It was Britpop, it was well-written, Ian Broudie's a clever man, and Skinner and Baddiel had done a fantastic football programme and, as I say, it was just a perfect storm really. It just seemed to capture the zeitgeist. I genuinely thought you were going to win that tournament. When you thrashed Holland and famously, actually won a penalty shootout, against Spain, you thought 'wow' the luck has changed. But it was amazing the atmosphere generated by that song. I think people forget how important that song was. England fans used to have a certain reputation - especially away from home - but that seemed to be a celebratory song with everyone partying in the streets. So I can understand why that's the most popular song in terms of sales. It was the epitome of the whole period - Loaded magazine, Britpop, football was fashionable again and this was the high watermark of it all. 'Vindaloo' - Fat Les, 1998 It took off on its own. Keith Allen, who did the song, I think he's got a Welsh mother and and an English father so he supports England in football and Wales in rugby which is kind of choosing your countryhood quite well really as England always qualify for major competitions and Wales tend to do well in the Six Nations and the World Cup so he's covered himself there! He was also involved in the 'World In Motion' song so he was always sort of around. What was interesting about this song was the things that were happening around it at that time when they said that Chicken Tikka was the most popular dish in British culinary, everyday life. So it was that idea of bringing multiculturalism into it as well and I Iiked how they did that, it was quite clever. 'Back Home' - England 1970 Probably until 'World In Motion', you tended to see a bunch of footballers, in a studio, all swaying, bad haircuts, terrible jumpers, singing along to something and looking really embarrassed. That England 1970 World Cup team, people were looking to them to at least to get to the semi-finals, if not win it again. All of those iconic figures you see in that video, Bobby Moore, there's some amazing players. I always remember my father saying that when England won the World Cup in 1966 - people would not believe this now - it didn't make the front pages of the broadsheets. Imagine that now! Football just dominates our lives now but then it was very muted compared to how it is today. Back then, there would have just been a bunch of men, in pubs, watching these flickering pictures from the other side of the world. That's all it was, there was no hype, and I think this song is kind of the same, very much of its time. Men standing there, in suits, swaying slightly. 'World In Motion' - New Order, 1990 I was 18, 19 that summer and I went to Ibiza and Magaluf and that song was everywhere - the soundtrack to that summer. That was the moment when football changed forever really, people fell in love with Gazza and what the team did although it was a slow burner. People forget that England took a long time to warm up in that tournament. There were terrible games against Ireland and Egypt but then David Platt scored right at the end against Belgium and they had this amazing game against Cameroon when Lineker scored two penalties and suddenly they were in the semi-finals, but a brilliant semi-final against Germany, a superb game. I really enjoyed that. Gazza cried and there were hundreds of thousands of people at Luton airport to see them back and, you know, the touchpaper had been lit. But that was the song. A good mate of mine, James Brown (the founder of Loaded), I remember him saying that was his favourite song of that era because it reminds him, even now, of being young and the excitement of it all. It just beautifully encapsulates that summer. It was all Stone Roses and Happy Mondays and there was a feeling that young people were fashionable again after they'd been pushed to the margins in the '80s. In 1990 you felt that things were happening, the House movement and all that kind of thing. 'Come On You Reds' - Manchester United, 1994 If it's Manchester United, it doesn't matter how bad it is or what it is. They're just a beast, the best supported club across the planet. I went to Thailand recently and I landed in Bangkok and the first thing I saw was a giant poster of Wayne Rooney and then another of van Persie advertising the local beers and it just makes you realise they are such a massive global brand, like Coca-Cola or McDonalds. So when they release a single, it's just going to sell lots of copies. It's just the way it is. As for that team, they were a superb bunch of players those boys - Lee Sharpe, this good looking kid, Giggs, and, again, everything sort of co-ordinated and they were a very sexy side at that time. Cantona had just gone there so they were destined to be the big team for the next 10 years. Jonny's thoughts on some other, erm, classics.... 'Diamond Lights' - Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle, 1987 I remember it so well. They had those incredible haircuts that looked like three haircuts on the same head - short sides, a long mullet back and a spiky top. That was Waddle's haircut. And other stuff like the flecked shirts and wixy tipped collars... just an incredible look. A mate of mine said a great thing once. He said if you're not embarrassed about how your hair looked five years ago then you didn't have the hairstyle of the time and I thought that's a really good point! You don't want to go through life like Steven Gerrard with the same haircut. I love the old shots of Barry Venison with an astonishing head of hair and his big flecked jacket, more power to him for doing that. (How Does It Feel to Be) On Top of the World - England United, 1998 Three Lions was able to become a chant and that's the secret. If you can sing it on the terraces, then you've got a really good chance. Maybe this song (the official 1998 England World Cup song) was a little too overcomplicated. There were some great people on it - Ian McCulloch from Echo and the Bunnymen, Space and Ocean Colour Scene - but it never took off and never translated to the terraces. Jonny on famous songs that became terrace classics 'Blue Moon' was one in the late '90s that Manchester City sang and 'Wonderwall' about Alan Ball was clever. I remember Celtic fans singing 'I Just Can't Get Enough' and Wales fan singing the lyric 'I Love You Baby' from 'Can't Take My Eyes Off You' by Andy Williams. Also at the start of the season, I'm not sure they're singing it now, but Manchester United were singing "Come on Davie Moyes, play like Fergie's boys" to 'Cum on Feel the Noize', the Slade song. If you find people's names that fit, that's brilliant. There was a great one where, Leeds fans started it I think, they sang about Rio Ferdinand - "His name is Rio" - to the Duran Duran hit. Philippe Albert was sung to the tune of 'Rupert The Bear' by Newcastle fans. Very clever. There was a great Ryan Giggs one to 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' by Joy Division - "Giggs will tear you apart, again". Sky Sports: So what's your favourite ever football-themed song Jonny? No doubt, it's Belfast Boy by Don Fardon. It's just a fantastic song. I can remember going to see Oasis play, really early doors in '94, and they used to play this which was amazing given they're City fans! But they used to play it and when it came on, honest to god, the place used to erupt. They play it now in clubs. It's just a really, funky, great song and the words are brilliant as well. I remember this great line about George Best. Someone said before George Best, football was black and white and after, it was colour. I think before George Best everyone looked like their fathers, like Bobby Charlton, everyone looked 50. After George Best, they looked like rock stars and now today they're bigger than rock stars. Footballers are modern-day film stars and rock stars.

Sky Sports: Tell us about Svengali It started online in 2009 and it's about a postman from Wales called Dixie who tries to find the next big thing on the internet. He goes to London as a small-town boy with a big dream and his band, 'The Premature Congratulations', actually end up becoming the next big thing. It's been made into a film, distributed by Universal which is amazing so it goes to cinemas this weekend (March 21st onwards) and is also available to download. It's also out on DVD on April 6th. Martin Freeman, Vicky McClure from 'This Is England' and Matt Berry are just some of the names in it. Sky Sports: Which musically-aware footballers are most likely to come and watch 'Svengali? Haha. There's been a few who've stood out down the years. Brian McClair was the one who famously liked the Roses and the Mondays at the time and Pat Nevin was the other one really into bands and broke the mould. I think Joey Barton is a big Smiths fan I've read somewhere. I think most of the modern players like R&B and Usher, that's sort of become the new Phil Collins, chart type music which has filled the ether. Apparently Shearer has got good musical taste they say, he's quite indie. Unfortunately most footballers these days, it's not their fault, but they're signed up at six or seven and then pushed into Academies or Youth teams so they don't really get to expand their music tastes. Sky Sports: Is there a 'mod' footballer out there as they'd surely be massively into the film's soundtrack. Yes, Leighton Baines is the one, he's got the old, sort of, Liam Gallagher haircut going on. I think he knows about the film apparently so hopefully he'll be there. Sky Sports: You're a massive Cardiff fan so can they stay up? I don't know. It's going to be very tough for us. The turmoil off the field has massively affected everything from the fans to the team. It's been a shame really. It's a season we should have enjoyed being back in the top-flight again but it's been quite divisive, I'm actually quite sad because I've seen really good friends fall out with each other. That's not worth it really, for me. I don't know if it'll be a good thing if we have a sort of re-boot and start again but there's the danger of doing a Portsmouth or a Rangers and nobody wants that. If we stay up, it could change everything. I like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, he's a nice guy, so fingers crossed. Sky Sports: What are your views on the colour change? I don't blame owners doing what they do. But until the FA and the Premier League and the government make it law, things can happen. You can't knock down Shakespeare's cottage and build a block of flats because it's a Grade Listed building. But, likewise, you shouldn't be able to go into a club and change colours and badges. Now, you could buy Notts County, the oldest club, and make them play in purple with pink spots. That's not right. And not a football fan would agree that's right. There should be a law in place where you buy that club and you have to respect certain traditions of that club - their colours, their badge. A lot of people have invested their lives in these clubs and it means something. So if you start messing about with things like that, people do take offence, of course they do. Sky Sports: What's the story about you and the song Cardiff run out to? Yes, I did that song. We recorded it a few years ago. Cardiff's chant on the terraces is a song called 'I'll Be There'. It's a striking miners song and it's been sung since 1926 so it's one of the oldest football chants in the world. So me, one of the Super Furry Animals, one of Catatonia and one of Funeral For A Friend recorded it in a studio and it's my voice, I'm doing the singing. So they've been coming out to that about four or five years now, which is great. **** Discover more about the Svengali movie here