Blue Is the Colour (song)

Blue Is the Colour is a football song associated with Chelsea Football Club. It was performed by the squad and released in 1972 to coincide with the club's ultimately unsuccessful appearance in the League Cup final of that year against Stoke City. The record was issued on the Penny Farthing Records label and reached number 5 in the UK Charts and number 8 in Ireland in March 1972.^[1] It has become one of the most well-known English football songs.^[2][3]

Singing squad members include:

• Chris Garland

As of 2012, 40 years after the song was first released, it is still Chelsea's main signature tune. The song is still played at every home game and any cup finals Chelsea compete in.

Other versions

The song was covered by Czech singer František Ringo Čech under the title Zelená je tráva (Green Is The Grass), and has become a popular football anthem in former Czechoslovakia.^[4]

In 1978, the song was re-recorded as "White Is The Colour" for the Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club, and became a local hit. The Scottish rock duo The Proclaimers re-recorded "White Is The Colour" for the Whitecaps' 2002 season, and performed it live during half-time of a game.^[5]

The song has been modified into Danish by Flemming Anthony into the title Rød-hvide farver (Red and white colours). The song was the official supporter's song for the Danish national football team, when they participated at the 1972 Summer Olympics.

The song is translated to Finnish by Vexi Salmi and used prior to kick-off in all the home fixtures of Helsinki-based Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi. It was recorded 1973 by the first squad of the team. The title in Finnish is HOO-JII-KOO, but is better known as 'Taas kansa täyttää', as the first verse begins with these words. Direct translation to English would be 'Again Terraces Are Filled'.

Supporters of the J. League Division 1 side Montedio Yamagata are also known to use a variant of the song.^[6]

Supporters of the Norwegian team Molde FK also use a variant of a song, where the title ("Blått er vår farge") directly translates to "Blue is our colour". The rest of the refrain is somehow altered, however.

An adapted version called "Green is the Colour" is the official fight song of the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (Canadian football, not soccer.) This should not be confused with the Pink Floyd song "Green Is the Colour".

The song was used as the basis for a campaign record used by the successful Conservative campaign in the 1979 general election. The song used was a parody of the Chelsea FC version, with the words changed to:

"Blue is the Colour;"

"Maggie is her name;"

"we're all together" (...verse....)

chorus....

"Margaret Thatcher is her name!"

References