Arsenal legend and former co-owner and vice-chairman David Dein has revealed that he ensured his wife learned the words to Good Old Arsenal, which was released in 1971.
Music fever had taken over football on British shores around the turn of 1970. Buoyed by the national team’s victory over West Germany on home soil, the FA released the first ever official England song ahead of the 1970 World Cup.
Back Home, a marching song performed by the full Three Lions squad, made no reference to actually winning the tournament – how modest – but focused on the support they would receive from Blighty. It wasn’t the edgiest number, yet it sailed to No.1 on star power alone.
Arsenal legend David Dein told his wife to learn the club song while proposing
Inspired by the success of Back Home, pundit Jimmy Hill challenged Arsenal to create a new anthem that could rival Liverpool’s love affair with You’ll Never Walk Alone. Arsenal agreed to let Hill run a competition on ITV, inviting fans to write a song. Entries poured in, only for Hill, deciding most of them were terrible, to scrap the contest and write it himself.
He came up with Good Old Arsenal, to the melody of Rule, Britannia!, which was sung by the Arsenal squad and released ahead of their appearance in the 1971 FA Cup Final. It reached No.16 in the charts. Some Gooners considered it a bit bland, but it left a lasting impression on others.
“I absolutely loved that song,” David Dein recalls to FourFourTwo. “When I proposed to my wife in 1972, I made it a condition that she had to learn the words of Good Old Arsenal, which was released the year before when we won the Double. She did it, to be fair to her.”
That’s not the only club official song Arsenal have released, however.
Among the dozens of framed platinum and gold discs hanging proudly at the home of retired songwriter and producer Geoff Morrow, a surprise choice takes centre stage above his sofa.
“I’ve had hits with Elvis Presley, The Carpenters and Barry Manilow,” the former impresario of record label Ammo tells FourFourTwo. “I like to show them off because it’s the cheapest way of decorating. But the one I cherish the most? The one that takes precedence above all others? Hot Stuff, by Arsenal Football Club.”
The surprise track – a rewrite of Donna Summer’s 1979 smash, sung by a choir of Arsenal stars including Ian Wright, Dennis Bergkamp and Nicolas Anelka – achieved 100,000 sales in 1998 as Arsene Wenger’s side won the Double.
With lyrics such as, “You’re telling us we’re boring, we’ll just keep on scoring”, the song was snaffled up by Gooners and climbed to No.9 in the UK charts. “It was a great record and it succeeded on its own merits, despite the fact it was a football song,” says Morrow proudly.
Arsenal and Morrow were back in the charts just two years later with Arsenal Number One. Adapted from Lou Bega’s 1999 hit Mambo No.5, it reached No.46. The lyrics (“A little bit of Keown in defence, a little bit of Vivas makes good sense”) were co-written by David Dein, the Gunners’ vice-chairman at the time.
“After my family and football, theatre had always been my great passion and I relished the opportunity to be involved in a football song about Arsenal,” Dein tells FFT. “My daughter came up with a brilliant line: “It only took a minute, but then we went and did it”, referencing the 1989 league title win at Anfield. It was a family effort, and a lot of fun.”
