Thirty three years ago we faced Derby County in another cup semi-final but back then it was the Rams who were the League Champions. Tommy Docherty’s entertaining United side had sprung out of the old second division all guns blazing and were in with a real shout of doing the Double but with Derby the opposition at Hillsborough a first FA Cup final in thirteen years was far from a formality.
Their manager Dave Mackay was certainly talking up his sides chances at every opportunity so it was quite apt that United’s songsmiths reworked the number one in the charts in celebration of the Reds’ triumph that day. Brotherhood Of Man’s “Save Your Kisses For Me” recorded some success of its own too, as the UK’s entry in the European Song Contest later that night it won the competition and went on to top the charts in twenty-seven countries.
Here’s a taster of the original:
That I’ve got to work each dayOf course United went on to lose to Second Division Southampton in the final courtesy of that hotly disputed Bobby Stokes winner. United run out of steam in the league as well with Liverpool going on to win the title but whilst the game at Filbert Street the week before Wembley ended in a 2-1 defeat many older Reds will have fond memories of that day because the United end sang another new song non-stop on the terraces.
Que sera seraObviously everyone knows the original which was written in 1956 by the American songwriting duo Jay Livingston and Ray Evans and has since been covered far too many times to mention. It will probably always be associated with Doris Day as she sang it in the 1956 film ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’ in which she played a lead role alongside James Stewart. Of course these days United’s Wembley version has been adopted by every team embarking on even a fleeting cup run but it’s never aired with the same gusto that those who sung it non-stop at Leicester, bar scarves twirling in the air, managed. A true United original and wouldn’t it be nice if we could bring the scaves back and sing it nice and slowly as at Flbert Street that day…
The new album ‘Sauna Of Love’ is now available for order.
This article was first published by Pete Boyle in Red Issue magazine
