"(Is This the Way to) The World Cup" | |
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Single by Tony Christie | |
Released | 29 May 2006 |
Label | Tug Records |
Lyricist(s) | Ian Stringer and George Webley |
"(Is This the Way to) The World Cup" is a 2006 single by Tony Christie with lyrics written by Ian Stringer and George Webley and published by Tug Records. [1] It was released as a version of Christie's successful " Is This the Way to Amarillo" single and created as a version to support the England national football team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The song reached a peak of No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart, and remained on the chart for a total of 5 weeks. [1]
In 2005, Christie had a hit with a Comic Relief re-release of "Amarillo" with Peter Kay that reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart for 7 weeks in a row. [2] The BBC Three Counties Radio presenters Ian Stringer and George Webley wrote alternate lyrics to "Amarillo" to support England at the World Cup, [3] which the song predicts England will win. [4] Christie was convinced to record the song using those lyrics by the BBC Radio 1 presenter Chris Moyles. [5] The music video for it was filmed at Barnet F.C.'s Underhill Stadium in London. [6] Christie initially said about it: "It's got a nice summery feel about it and people seem to like it" and the BBC commissioned him to review other 2006 World Cup songs competing with him. [7] The Manchester Evening News said about "Is This the Way to the World Cup" that: "It's that cheesy, it's a classic". [8] Like with "Amarillo" the year before, the profits for the single went to charity, specifically SportsAid. [9]
Christie later came to regret performing the song, stating in a 2010 interview that it was "dreadful" [10] and said he would "...never ever do it again because it was crap". [11]
"(Is This the Way to) The World Cup" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11. [7] The following week it reached its peak of No. 8 on the chart before dropping three consecutive weeks after to 11, 24 and 30 before exiting the charts after five weeks. [1]