Almost every cricket fan is familiar with Roy Harper's famous cricket song 'When an old cricketer leaves the crease'. Cricket songs are nothing new. 'Lillian Thomson', written on a mythical woman fast bowler by Stilgoe who was tired of hearing 'Lillee and Thompson through England' on the radio, proved to be quite a rage during the 1974-75 Ashes series – so much so that the commentators stopped calling them Lillee and Thompson and referred to them as Thomson and Lillee instead.When it comes to cricket songs, there is certainly no shortage of rich and funny anecdotes. "The Parable of Glenn McGrath's Haircut" by TISM (This Is Serious Mum), the lyrics of most of which is unpublishable, is considered by many to be an accurate portrait of the Australian fast bowler. A song markedly different but extremely interesting because of its chutney style is a tribute to Chanderpaul sung by a local fan in Guyana.'Cotton's Cricket Song', written by Reynell Cotton in 1776, master at Hyde Abbey School and one-time president of the Hambledon Club, is widely considered to be the oldest cricket song to have been written. Blues, jazz, calypsos, reggae, rock and roll, soca, Bollywood, pop - all genres of songs have been written on cricket.But in this article, we will look at 5 famous songs which have been written about cricketers.
#5 \'Jiggery Pokery\' by Duckworth and Lewis
In the summer of 2009, an eccentric cricket album titled 'The Duckworth Lewis Method' was released by Messrs. Duckworth and Lewis (well, not the Duckworth and Lewis you know about). The album which was an unabashed tribute to cricket and its institutions included some of the most remarkable cricket songs. One such song titled 'Jiggery Pokery' was written from the perspective of Mike Gatting while facing the ‘ball of the century’ from Shane Warne.
The chorus goes: "It was jiggery pokery, trickery, jokery/ How did he open me up?/ Robbery, muggery, Aussie Skullduggery./ Out for a buggering duck./ What a delivery,/ I might as well have been, /holding a contra bassoon. / Jiggery pokery who was this nobody,/ making me look a buffoon?/ Like a blithering old buffoon.
#4 \'Bradman\' by Paul Kelley
'He was more than one man, he could take on any side / They always came for Bradman because fortune used to hide in the palm of his hand.'
Australia's greatest troubadour, Paul Kelley's famous song on Bradman is a fantastic eulogy to the great master in the form of a ballad. The song written and performed by Kelley appeared on the CD release of Kelley's 1987 album 'Under the Sun'.
The man who had sung three "oddball odes" to cricket, as he calls them, could seamlessly croon in "Leaps and Bounds": "I'm high on the hill / Looking over the bridge / To the MCG…" Kelley's portrait of Bradman is even more colourful and vivid taking the listener for a ride. "I was fooling around with a circular series of three chords - the usual suspects, D, G, A - over which I was singing a melancholy, falling tune," he wrote. "Each chord was the same length, so the cycle was three bars long - not your usual song structure."
#3 \'Sir Garfield Sobers\' by Mighty Sparrow
Slinger Francisco, better known as Mighty Sparrow, is popularly considered to be the King of Calypso. Sparrow, whose contribution towards popularizing the calypso to the rest of the world cannot be overlooked, answers the question "who`s the greatest cricketer on earth or mars?" in his song 'Sir Garfield Sobers'. The song was included in the National Record NLP 8420 in 1966.
The song which was Sparrows' mid-1960 hit was prophetic as it had predicted the knighthood that Sobers would go on to receive much later in 1975. The song's first verse stanza runs thus:
"Who's the greatest cricketer on Earth or Mars?
Anyone can tell you, it's the great Sir Garfield Sobers!
This handsome Barbadian lad really knows his work.
Batting or bowling, he's the cricket King, no joke!
Three cheers for Captain Sobers!"
#2 \'Vivian Richards\' by King Short Shirt
One of the better-known cricket calypsos remains the eulogy to Vivian Richards by the Antiguan singer, Mclean Emmanuel who is better known as King Short Shirt. Known for his strong anti-authoritarian views which brought him much hardship and penury, King Short Shirt had famously declared himself to be the 'Cassius Clay of Calypso'.
The song on Richards was included in his 1976 album 'Ghetto Vibes' which has been called the greatest calypso album of all time by many. An exuberant beat and hip-hop rhythm runs through the song that tries to echo a spirit of celebration and reinforces the larger than life image of Richards. And the chorus has that remarkable line which is bound to move any cricket fan: "No bowler holds a terror for Vivian Richards!"
#1 The \'Gavaskar Calypso\' by Lord Relator
Widely considered to be one of the best cricket calypsos to be ever written, the 'Gavaskar calypso’ by Lord Relator is known for its meticulous wording and careful rhyming. Written about a Test match in the India-West Indies 1971 series, the song carefully captures Gavaskar's dominance in his debut series as bowlers struggled to get him out.
"Writing it was easy!" said Lord Relator. "I'm a cricket fan, and I was there. I saw everything, so putting the words together came like second nature. I almost extempoed [sic] that entire calypso. What I had to write was the names of the cricketers, and rhyme it so I wouldn't have to memorize it. But it was automatic."
The most famous and often quoted part of the song is of course the chorus which is:
"It was GavaskarDe Real MasterJust like a WallWe couldn't out Gavaskar at all, not at allYou know the West Indies couldn't out Gavaskar at all"
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