Topic: Watch: John Power singing Poor Scouser Tommy

[davenorthwales]

i used to think it was higher division as well back in 1980.. and deffo libyan sun.. also for the old folks at home

[PoorLancastrianTommy]

I have still got the original Roneoed copy of the words that were handed out to us LFC London Branch supporters going up to the game back in 1975 or 1976.

I never saw it written down and maybe you would be unlikely to "guess" "Arabian" or "Old Nazi Gun" if you were just hearing it. Recently (since tinternet) I had seen it written down, but dismissed it as I had assumed the song was linked to the history of the spoin kop.

Plus I cannot think of any battles "under the Arabian sun".

I think the version I "heard" was better :-)

[Benimar Col]

someone wants to teach this wool the fcukin words   

[davenorthwales]

1975?  the first i heard of PST was sometime during the 1978-79 season.

u could scan it and put it up. would be of interest....

i'm trying to think back to 1980 when it was becoming more sung, not forgetting PST wasn't sung that much - and that was well before the everton 5-0

i deffo would say it sounded like under THE libyan (or arabian) sun ..  i thought it sounded like under the blazing sun at first as well coming to think of it lol

[davenorthwales]

It's Radiant.

Or at least it was back in the late-70s.

good point...

[PoorLancastrianTommy]

1975?  the first i heard of PST was sometime during the 1978-79 season.

Now you mention it. I started going to anfield in 77 and do not recall hearing it...First game for me was away at Man City in 76. I was only 10 but my dad worked in Manchester so he got the tickets from a city fan at work.....was in the wrong end and had me red and white hat ripped off by a city fan when we equalised in the last minute (Dave Watson own goal) and I was jumping up and down in the sity end . City came second that year by a point.  That was probably the defining moment of the season.... 

[rafa_thebosphorus]

It's Radiant.

Or at least it was back in the late-70s.

that would be the scorcher of 76 would it mate

it was always raging sun and almighty gun for me an i learnt it early eighties.
and i always thought it was about the spion kop.

does anyone remember hearing a spanish version.
it might of been deportivo. sung to the same tune
but i might of made it up as well cos altho i havent lost me marbles im not sure where they are all the time

[shanklyboy]

I can understand the confusion with Lybian/Arabian/Radient  and even Red Burning Sun, but for the life of me I can't understand anyone thinking it was 'Higher' Division.

Why would it be 'So they put him in a Higher Division....sent him off to a far foreign land'.
What did people think this 'Higher Division' was exactly and how was it relevent to a soldier being sent abroad?

Even with all the confusion and debates about the wording.......I can live with them to an extent, but I detest the 'Rush scored one....Rush scored 2.....'line....... Absolutely hate it!

[Andy @ Allerton!]

I can understand the confusion with Lybian/Arabian/Radient  and even Red Burning Sun, but for the life of me I can't understand anyone thinking it was 'Higher' Division.

Why would it be 'So they put him in a Higher Division....sent him off to a far foreign land'.
What did people think this 'Higher Division' was exactly and how was it relevent to a soldier being sent abroad?

Even with all the confusion and debates about the wording.......I can live with them to an extent, but I detest the 'Rush scored one....Rush scored 2.....'line....... Absolutely hate it!

All you need is Rush!! Da da daa da dadala da! All you need is Rush!! Da da daa da dadala da! All you need is Rush!! Rush! (Rush is all you need, Rush is all you need, Rush is all you need)

[Redsnappa]

1975?  the first i heard of PST was sometime during the 1978-79 season.

u could scan it and put it up. would be of interest....

Bit of history here then.... searched high and low and found it with me 1977 Progs... can't say which game though...

... trouble is, it's gonna cause more arguments than prove anything I remember the lad that handed them out now, proper Cockney East Endah, know wot I mean guvnor type and it's obvious - and you'll soon spot the line - that he couldn't quite grasp Scouse...


Scouser Tommy by madasabagofcats, on Flickr

[shanklyboy]

Bit of history here then.... searched high and low and found it with me 1977 Progs... can't say which game though...

... trouble is, it's gonna cause more arguments than prove anything I remember the lad that handed them out now, proper Cockney East Endah, know wot I mean guvnor type and it's obvious - and you'll soon spot the line - that he couldn't quite grasp Scouse...


Scouser Tommy by madasabagofcats, on Flickr

Just to confuse matters.

Maybe it's just me but I've argued for years about the chorus.
Through the mists of time I remember the first 'dying' to only be sung once, but with a quiet faded 'dying,dying' and then in the next line it was shouted and sung 3 times, with 'of his head' repeated and shouted.

So it went:

As he lay on the battle-field dying......
With the blood gushing out of his head.(OF HIS HEAD)
As he lay on the battle-field DYING,DYING,DYING
These were the last words he said........

[Terry de Niro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1ORfiBzeTQ&feature=related

[davenorthwales]

cool upload !!

if i remember as well, i'll have a look at my vid later. i think PST is in the liverpool v spurs 78-79..or it may not be that vid, it maybe another. anyway, it'll give an excuse to watch it  ..  i remember it without the dying dying dying, but not for long. these three were added on around 1980.

at the start, can i tell you a story of a poor boy... shall i tell you a story of a poor boy. let me tell you a story of a poor boy... can i tell you the story of a poor boy...
it's interesting to see in the upload is different, i will sing you a song of a poor boy.

more remarkable is far away cross the sea, plus and all of the old folks back home instead of 'and also the old folks back home'.

Well they put him in a highland division instead of 'now they put him in a Highland division'.  i thought it was so they put him in.....

still i think it is libyan sun  even though i thought it was blazing 1980ish but radiant sun makes sense as well.  so does raging sun. 
well, that's what it sounded like from the anfield road end lol.. but then again, i don't think i went into the anfield road end after 1979 which sound strange now.
i had a look at 1980 programmes and i was in the anfield road end in august 1980-81 norwich at home.  ipswich in october 1980 on the kop, portsmouth october main stand, so it was early 1980-81 when it was becoming more popular..

if anything, probably the best PST i ever heard was away to aston villa in the fa cup 1987-88.. could swear half of anfield was there and everyone was singing it.. the away suppoters in the seats were making a racket by stamping their feet on the floor as it was a wooden stand and seats (was it trinity road that stand was)?

and.....if i remember right too, how it started off was a few would start singing ' sing fight for his king and his country and also for the old folks at home' !!! can i tell you a story of a poor boy, who was sent far away from his home...........but, i do not recall the references to the everton game..

[coct3au]

Bit of history here then.... searched high and low and found it with me 1977 Progs... can't say which game though...

... trouble is, it's gonna cause more arguments than prove anything I remember the lad that handed them out now, proper Cockney East Endah, know wot I mean guvnor type and it's obvious - and you'll soon spot the line - that he couldn't quite grasp Scouse...

"Gush gush"?
"The pies swam around in the crossroads"?!

Best version yet!

[davenorthwales]

it seems like it's morphed into what it's known as today.

[davenorthwales]

if i recall, it was 'with the blood pouring out from his head' rather than gushing ...

so, gushing is in the upload, and youtube... maybe i got it wrong myself and believed it was pouring all along for 30 years

[thechulloran]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/6khBkHwSEgg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/6khBkHwSEgg</a>

classic

[Yorkykopite]

I reckon it was first heard in its entirety 79-80, maybe 78-79. It wasn't around for Rome, pretty sure of that.

It's interesting to hear the different early versions. I've never heard anything like Redsnappa's, but he has the evidence doesn't he? Just to confuse it more I once heard a version sung by a small group of lads as we were penned in that long downslope at the back of the old open end at the Bridge, waiting for the Chelsea fans to clear from Fulham Broadway. They sang the 'gushing out of his head' line just once. Instead of repeating it they then sang, 'As he lifted his eyes to the heavens (these were the last words he said). I never sang that myself but it had a lovely reverential feel to it.

[rutlandred]

Just to confuse matters.

Maybe it's just me but I've argued for years about the chorus.
Through the mists of time I remember the first 'dying' to only be sung once, but with a quiet faded 'dying,dying' and then in the next line it was shouted and sung 3 times, with 'of his head' repeated and shouted.

So it went:

As he lay on the battle-field dying......
With the blood gushing out of his head.(OF HIS HEAD)
As he lay on the battle-field DYING,DYING,DYING
These were the last words he said........

Thanks the fecking lord for your post.

This has been driving me mad..! I've been arguing the toss with my mate for months now over this.  This is how we I sang it in the late 80's/early 90's.. (not sure of the original as I was a toddler..!).  Best song we've got in my opinion, the half arsed attempts piss me off no end... Oh and I quite like the Rush addition..

EDIT:  Up the Bum.  Don't do it.

[davenorthwales]

i remember someone standing behind me on the kop and he passed his mate a typed sheet of paper saying something about a new song. god knows what that was all about. i'm sure this was may 1979 cos i didn't go back on the kop until october 1980.  which leaves a gap of a season, and i can't remember it being sung unless it was sung at a game i didn't go to

what could be on that spurs 1978 video is the boney m song 'we are liverpool'   

[Andy @ Allerton!]

This is the version I've always known


Let me Tell you the story of a poor boy,
Who was sent far away from his home
To Fight for his king and his country
(And also the old folks back home)

So they put him in the highland division,
Sent him off to a far, foreign land
Where the flies swarm around in their thousands..
And there's nothing to see but the sand

Now, the Battle it started next morning
Under the Radiant Sun
And I remember our poor Scouser, Tommy
He was shot by an Old Nazi gun (UP THE BUM!!)

As he lay on the battlefield Dying (Dying, Dying)
With the blood gushing out of his head
As he lay on the battlefield Dying..
These.. Were.. The last.. Words.. He.. Said..

OHHHHHHHHH!!!
I...
Am.. A Liverpudlian, I come from the Spion Kop
I like to sing, I like to shout
I Go there quite a lot (Every week!)
Support a team that plays in Red!
A Team that we all know..

A team that we call LIVERPOOL!!
To glory will will go..

We've won! The League!
We've Won! The Cup!!
We've BEEN! To Europe too!

WE Played the Toffees for a laugh..
And Left them feeling Blue

5-0!!

1.. 2.. 1..2..3.. 1.2.3.4.FIVE NIL!!

RUSH Scored ONE
RUSH Scored TWO
RUSH Scored THREE AND RUSH SCORED FOUR!!

Na na naa na naa naaa naa naaa naaa!!


All you need is Rush (Ta da dadala) All you need is Rush (Ta da dadala)
All you need is Rush.. Rush.. (Rush is all you need) Rush is all you need
(Rush is all you need) Rush is all you need
(Rush is all you need) Rush is all you need ... REPEAT TO FADE...



Typed that from thinking of what I would sing at the ground..

[Redsnappa]

Tell ya what lads.... a lot of the answers are already here.... on the RAWK archives... I'm still digging, but here's a post from our very own Rushian, back in the mists of time, 2002....

PST - been there sung that. A modern day standard (though sung too fast in the ground). Now been interested in digging out the history of this song for a while to write "The evolution of PST" for raotl.
1, 2, 3, 4 ... The Rush scored 1 etc can be dated easily (though does anyone know who added it and exactly when?)

I am a Liverpudlian - written by Pete "Jig" Daly and dates from the late 60s. Pete descended upon the RAOTL one day last year like a Golden Angel providing the priginal unexpurgiated lyrics - does anyone have a copy (Red in Holland/mb?) - Braces and Boots then filled in a few details about the lad and his antics on the Kop.

Now the first few verses. Seem to have been added in the mid 70s onto the I am a Liverpudlian from what I remember Al Edge saying once - again any further confirmation would be nice.

The tune is Red River Valley. archives.I've done quite a bit of digging on this and have sections on the dispute of whther it is Canadian or American song from the 1860s, I have the first published lyrics from 1890s and also an alternative disputed early version In the Bright Mohawk Valley (which came first the redriver or the mohawk?).

Now how did this American folk tune morph into PST? I have searched and searched on Army/WWII song sites for an original of this without success. I've found a Vietnam version sung by American GIs which is obviously too late.

Someone did suggest it may originate from the spanish civil war - dig a bit further and I hit pay dirt and find a song called Jarama Valley and unearthed a recording by Woodie Guthrie ....

There's a valley in Spain called Jarama / It's a place that we all know so well / It was there that we gave of our manhood / And there that our brave comrades fell

We are proud of the Lincoln Battalion / And the fight for Madrid that we made / Where we fought like true sons of the people / That Fascism never should reign

Now we're leaving this valley of sorrows / And its memories we'll never forget / So before we continue this reunion / Let us stand to our glorious dead

.... Again no striking similarities to PST but the feeling/emotion of this version ties in more with PST than any other clone. It's not hard to imagine Americans who had fought in Spain being billetted alongside British soldiers in WWII and PST evolving from Jarama Valley.

The only problem is I can find no evidence of this. There's a missing link somewhere.

So this is a call to arms. Has anyone any further info? Either on this link, the original Pete Daly post or anything else.

You will get a name check.

cheers
Steve
 

[davenorthwales]

someone told me once, probably around 1989 - i like to sing, i like to shout and i get thrown out quite a lot

i thought it was we played the toffeemen for a laugh and left them feeling blue

[Redsnappa]

Right...... definitive dating to at least 1977....... no wonder I didn't find the sheet in a 1977 Prog..... I was locked out of the St Etienne game and all the Progs had well sold out....

Part of a (MASSIVE!) post by Cyn, Feb 1st 2002....

Once inside the ground, well that was a different matter. I'd never seen so many flags or scarves; I'd never heard the kop so loud and I'd never felt the pressure of expectancy build so fast. It was like being in a pressure boiler. To their credit the French were well supported with masses of green and white in the Anny Road End as well as a few hundred in the stands. We started singing "Allez Les Rouges," in answer to their "Allez Les Vertes," and for one of the first times ever, I heard The Poor Scouser Tommy. The noise was deafening, the atmosphere electric and still not a player on the pitch. Then a massive thunder like roar erupted as the redmen ran out onto the pitch. You honestly could not hear yourself talk. Amidst the noise you knew you were screaming and singing but couldn't hear yourself - and that my friends is a weird experience ... and then all of a sudden the game began.

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=2595.msg24858#msg24858

[davenorthwales]

wow, that was an intersting read..

oh, liverpool v derby county october 1978.. it's on liverpool greavsies six best matches from the 70s.. PST.. very faint

[Redsnappa]

.... and just to confuse the issue even further.... 

.... part of a post from Peter_Evo in another PST argument from 2003....

Jimbo, not being funny here mate but let me explain why it is "I get thrown out quite a lot" and not "I go there quite alot".  If after this explanation you still want to sing your version then fair enough but not within earshot of anybody who started watching the Reds before say the late 70's.

"I like to sing.  I like to shout.  I get thrown out quite a lot (every week)."  That was the original version when the song was first sung circa 1967.  Think about it:  we were all mad as fuck and passsionate about Liverpool to the extremes that some people did get thrown out quite a lot for over-zealousness (celebrating a goal too wildly, running on the pitch after a goal etc), really, that really did happen.  Where the fuck "I go there quite a lot" came from I'm not really sure but I suspect it has crept in only over the past few years through nouveau fans and OOT'S (much as I defend them and have lots of them as very good friends) mis-hearing the words and then it catching on around them.  I suspect that if you asked anybody under the  age of say 25 or those who have only been going the match a few years then they would tell you it is "I go there quite a lot" whereas if you ask people over the age of say 30 and have more than about 25 years match-going experience they will tell you the absolutely CORRECT version "I GET THROWN OUT QUITE A LOT."  Honestly, to us owld arses, the ones who know, "I go there quite a lot" sounds not only stupid but downright fuckin' embarassing!

http://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=20217.msg296299#msg296299

[davenorthwales]

haha so it was i get thrown out quite a lot after all...   and there's me thinking lol

[shanklyboy]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/6khBkHwSEgg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/6khBkHwSEgg</a>

classic

Apart from not singing the right tune for the chorus....that's spot on.

[blert596]

I was locked out of the St Etienne game ....

Shame that mate. It was a good night :-)

[Dr Manhattan]

Ive seen Cast a few times live. Nice tight outfit.

Don't see what you wore has to do with anything, but thanks for sharing. Did you get a lot of attention from the lads?

[davenorthwales]

going back to the liverpool v derby game in october 1978, what could have been going on is a handful were singing the verses and a few more joined in with the chorus - presumed that not many knew the words and picked up on the chorus as it was more catchy and understandable.
the first bit during the 2nd half highlights, all i can here is dying dying dying and at the same time, some chants of Liverpool (clap clap clap) Liverpool (clap clap clap) and then i can here oh i am a liverpudlian, i come from the spion kop,i like to sing i like to shout (then it becomes muffled and silent or faded out very quickly as if there was no i get thrown out quite a lot)...

[davenorthwales]

lol... the second PST during the derby co game, a few more were doing the verse.. i can here up to highland division....flies swarm around in the thousands while liverpool on the attack but all the rest was drowned out when ray kennedy scored.

actually, i can here oh i am a liverpudlian during the slow motion goal replay.. and just that only, it cut out the rest

[davenorthwales]

actually, i would like to have a translation of a another chant. for years i wondered what the hell was said... lol..  what i think i'll do is record the chant on my mobile, put it into my laptop, upload it to youtube 

[Redsnappa]

Shame that mate. It was a good night :-)

It wasn't all bad..... got in about 20 mins from the end, along with squillions of others, and we just stood on the back steps of the Kop, cos even a skinny little get like me couldn't get near... couldn't see through those little windows at the back of the Kop - I don't think they'd been cleaned since the 20's or whenever it was when we got a roof...

[Redallover11]

Don't see what you wore has to do with anything, but thanks for sharing. Did you get a lot of attention from the lads?

Don't see what you wore has to do with anything, but thanks for sharing. Did you get a lot of attention from the lads?

LMAO

[jrewing]

This is the version I've always known


Let me Tell you the story of a poor boy,
Who was sent far away from his home
To Fight for his king and his country
(And also the old folks back home)

So they put him in the highland division,
Sent him off to a far, foreign land
Where the flies swarm around in their thousands..
And there's nothing to see but the sand

Now, the Battle it started next morning
Under the Radiant Sun
And I remember our poor Scouser, Tommy
He was shot by an Old Nazi gun (UP THE BUM!!)

As he lay on the battlefield Dying (Dying, Dying)
With the blood gushing out of his head
As he lay on the battlefield Dying..
These.. Were.. The last.. Words.. He.. Said..

OHHHHHHHHH!!!
I...
Am.. A Liverpudlian, I come from the Spion Kop
I like to sing, I like to shout
I Go there quite a lot (Every week!)
Support a team that plays in Red!
A Team that we all know..

A team that we call LIVERPOOL!!
To glory will will go..

We've won! The League!
We've Won! The Cup!!
We've BEEN! To Europe too!

WE Played the Toffees for a laugh..
And Left them feeling Blue

5-0!!

1.. 2.. 1..2..3.. 1.2.3.4.FIVE NIL!!

RUSH Scored ONE
RUSH Scored TWO
RUSH Scored THREE AND RUSH SCORED FOUR!!

Na na naa na naa naaa naa naaa naaa!!


All you need is Rush (Ta da dadala) All you need is Rush (Ta da dadala)
All you need is Rush.. Rush.. (Rush is all you need) Rush is all you need
(Rush is all you need) Rush is all you need
(Rush is all you need) Rush is all you need ... REPEAT TO FADE...



Typed that from thinking of what I would sing at the ground..

Spot on... Except I don't do the "UP THE BUM!" bit.

[shanklyboy]

actually, i would like to have a translation of a another chant. for years i wondered what the hell was said... lol..  what i think i'll do is record the chant on my mobile, put it into my laptop, upload it to youtube 

Just put what you think it is in here mate.
Someone will know what it is without having to hear it.

[davenorthwales]

lol shanklboy.  ok, the chant is the same type of chant that goes with 'what a waste of money'..

i really haven't a clue what it says on the video. i can't even describe it..

[davenorthwales]

oh, i got it now.

the party's only starting, the party's only starting lmoa 

[shanklyboy]

Spot on... Except I don't do the "UP THE BUM!" bit.

We heard different!