Kelly scores with Trapattoni anthem
And it’s all thanks to a man once voted the country’s top GAA fan, who is hoping his song will score in the charts for charity.
Cork-based Fine Gael county councillor Gerry Kelly penned Trapattoni Here I Come to celebrate the arrival of Italian soccer legend Giovanni Trapattoni.
The assistant principal of St Aidan’s Community College on Cork’s Dublin Hill hopes his catchy ditty, sung to the tune of trad favourite The Merry Ploughboy, will join the list of hallowed soccer anthems like Put ’Em Under Pressure, Give it a Lash Jack and Ooh, Aah, Paul McGrath — all from the Charlton glory days — to boost local charities.
Mr Kelly appealed last night for a corporate sponsor to fund the printing of a few thousand copies of the CD.
“Who knows, we could make it in to the charts.”
He wrote the quirky lyrics, complete with a hint of an Italian accent, after a music session with friends at a house in Glenville a few weeks ago.
“I did it for posterity and the crack. I was gripped by the publicity his appointment got and people were talking about nothing else,” he said.
“The tune really suited the lyrics so I wrote the verses and chorus to reflect some facts and to be slightly tongue-in-cheek.”
He recorded the three-minute track in Satellite Studios in Ballincollig with musicians Ger Murphy, Sean Murphy, Margaret O’Connell and her two sons Ardal and Altan.
They only produced a handful of CDs. But he is willing to release the track more widely if a sponsor can be found.
Leaving Cert student Paul Costello, from Montenotte, has produced a music video to accompany the track, which can be viewed on Mr Kelly’s Bebo page.
A copy has been sent to the FAI’s director of communications, who said he would present it to Mr Trapattoni himself as soon as he could.
It was not clear last night if the soccer boss has heard it yet.
But it went down a bomb with audiences at Cork’s Over-60s Senior Citizens’ Talent Show — the biggest talent show for older people in the country — Mr Kelly said.
The track has been played on several radio stations and support is building.
This isn’t Mr Kelly’s first venture into songwriting. In 1998, he wrote a song to celebrate the Tour de France’s race through Cork as part of its Irish leg, which raised money for the ISPCC.
He has also penned tunes celebrating Cork GAA legend Teddy McCarthy’s double All-Ireland win in 1990 and an ode to hurling legend Brian Corcoran.
My name is Trapattoni, and I’m nearly 69,
And I’m off to join the FAI, thanks a million to Denis O’Brien.
I bring to you my expertise, and spaghetti for the boys,
No more they’ll eat the prawn sandwich, beef burger or french fries
And when the press might scorn me, like a-Dunphy on the phone
I will tell him to shut-up-a your face, or maybe póg mo hón
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