The paradox of Put ’Em Under Pressure, Ireland’s 1990 World Cup anthem, was that it opened with perhaps the greatest Irish guitar riff of all time, in Johnny Fean’s line from Horslips’ Dearg Doom, while also unleashing the singalong contagion that was the “Olé, olé, olé” chorus. Thereafter, whenever a dozen or more Irish people gathered in public, there was a better than evens chance of an “Olé, olé, olé’ breaking out.
Put ’Em Under Pressure was one of the few times a sports anthem captured the Irish imagination. Britain has a richer tradition of silly music and jingoism – of which the tie-in soccer song is the perfect synthesis. That’s why Three Lions has lingered as unofficial anthem of diminished Englishness. With its mix of vainglory and self-pity, it captures something bigger than sport.
Happily, neither of the two tunes released to celebrate Ireland’s qualification for the Women’s World Cup in Australia is likely to inflict Olé, Olé, Olé style intergenerational trauma. Sweetlemondae’s Turn the World and Zrazy’s Come on Ireland (Give Us the Right to Dream) are each captivating, though in very different ways. One points to the future. The other looks to the past. Both capture the excitement of Ireland qualifying for a World Cup for the first time since 2002, and both will be blaring out before Ireland take on Canada today.
Sweetlemondae’s Turn the World may be the more familiar as it features in the opening credits to RTÉ's World Cup coverage. Sweetlemondae – aka the 23-year-old Galway artist Lexii Alijai – recorded it with Diffusion Labs, an artist-management company and record label based in Drimnagh in Dublin. The sleek dance track showcases Alijai’s expressive vocals, while the lyrics suggest the women’s team are set to conquer all before them.
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Come on Ireland, by the Dublin-based duo Zrazy, charts a jauntier course. It is in the lineage of the fluffy soccer anthem, built around a playful melody. The lyrics again celebrate female achievement on the sportsfield – although it’s disappointing that football and camogie are omitted from a song that celebrates soccer, athletics, rugby, cricket and boxing. In the video, there is a shot of Mayo’s All Ireland winner Cora Staunton – playing AFL for Greater Western Sydney Giants.
Still, the track is ferociously jaunty. And who could disagree with the message of love and support it sends to the team ahead of Ireland’s tricky second World Cup tie against Canada? Whether either release will spur Ireland towards qualification from the group stages is harder to say. Music can work wonders. But to excel at a competition as fiercely contested as the World Cup will take more than a great song, no matter its catchiness.
Just as with the World Cup though, there can only be one winner. So who take the trophy? A bit like a penalty shoot-out, Sweetlemondae and Zrazy will each have five opportunities to score, with the one with the highest number of green tics claiming first place.
Lyrics
Both songs acknowledge the tremendous achievement of the Ireland soccer team and pay tribute to women excelling in other walks of life. But Sweetlemondae references Jack Charlton’s “Put em under pressure” quote – the mantra of the great Italia 90 side – and so she clinches it. To quote the great soccer philosopher Alan Partridge, Back of the Net!
Winner: Sweetlemondae
Catchiness
Turn The World is a slow burner that builds to a pummelling chorus where Come on Ireland is a bit more Daniel O’Donnell’s idea of a soccer anthem, so we’re going to the former
Winner: Sweetlemondae
Patriotism
Zrazy include a flurry of tin whistle by Carole Nelson and sample President Higgins, so they edge that one.
Video
The Zrazy video features footage from the women’s team – enough to carry it over the line.
Overall Effect
Each tune achieves its goals. But for immediate impact, some may feel that Sweetlemondae is the more effective. It is a subject opinion, of course.
Winner: Sweetlemondae
