Re: Post Match Music : Fri Feb 14, 2025 9:35 am
Bullnorthern wrote:
I was intrigued by this post so consulted a good mate in Glasgow who is an avid Rangers supporters
Apparently it was adopted by Rangers fans after it was featured in a film . The scene in Trainspotting 2 is set in a loyalist club with the song playing in the background .
As Bullseye has said there’s nothing in the Bradford lad’s lyrics that’s obviously sectarian. I wondered if the mention of red in the second line might refer to the Red Hand of Ulster However the sectarian colours are green and orange
Apparently it was adopted by Rangers fans after it was featured in a film . The scene in Trainspotting 2 is set in a loyalist club with the song playing in the background .
As Bullseye has said there’s nothing in the Bradford lad’s lyrics that’s obviously sectarian. I wondered if the mention of red in the second line might refer to the Red Hand of Ulster However the sectarian colours are green and orange
There's no way it was intended as a loyalist song when it was written and Roy Orbison's dad was an Irish catholic.
A quick google search on the song. The fella that wrote it was the resident organist at Rotherham town hall in 1969 when Roy Orbison played there. He asked Orbison what he thought of this song he wrote and was offered £100 to sell it. That is just over £2000 in today's money. Orbison included it on his 1970 album "The Big O" and it reached number 1 in Australia.
The song is said to have been adopted by loyalist marching bands following the murder of a suspected IRA man in 1986. Who was shot by two UVF gun men in the back room of an amusement arcade in Belfast in retaliation for an IRA shooting.
