ToffeeWeb - Season 2008-09

The Mail Bag

Z Cars and Victor Meldrew

Now I don't want to come across as a grumpy old man (which I probably am), but anyone else think that the effect of the Z-Cars theme has become blunted by overuse? While queueing for my semi-final tickets on the phone earlier today, I was subjected to at least 6 blasts of our famous old tune ? thank God I didn't have to wait long! Add to that fellow Blues' mobile phones constantly going off with the Z-Cars tune, I was beginning to wonder if I'm the only one who would prefer to hear it solely on match days as the teams come out?

And come to think of it, not forgetting our tradition, which is hugely important to us, I would like to hear some different stirring music to wake me up in the minutes prior to the match. "Something good is going to happen" by Utah Saints is a excellent curtain raiser, for instance.

I'm afraid constant use of the Z-Cars theme is having the same effect on me as "the People's Club" catchphrase! ? It grates.

I suppose this is akin to blasphemy in some people's minds!
Ray Robinson, Warrington Posted 23/03/2009 at 17:52:26

back Return to the Mail Bag

Comments

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

Michael Kenrick

Funny, I'm reading that and thinking (well before I get to the end), this brings to mind concerns expressed about "the People's Club" cliché... Great minds!

I think you're dead right. Use of Z-Cars in those two phone instances should be banned. There are at least 3 CDs of traditional Everton songs that could regale you while on hold... and as for a ringtone, well best if I say nowt!

Denis Byrne
1 Posted 23/03/2009 at 22:21:30

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Martin Cutler
2 Posted 23/03/2009 at 22:31:33

Denis, you forgot to add "-Cars" to your Z?s!
Chuckle!

As an aside, I listen to some of the Everton podcasts and they constantly use the Z-Cars theme in each one... first time is fine ? but repeatedly?

Sean Roberts
3 Posted 23/03/2009 at 22:40:38

Doesn't anyone remember when we dropped Z-Cars for the theme from 2001 ? A Space Odyssey in the early 90s i think it was. I don't think we won a game without Z-Cars so let's just leave well alone I say!!!!!!

Paul Lally
4 Posted 23/03/2009 at 22:32:09

If we end up in Kirkby (God forbid), the team could run out to: ?We gotta get out of this place? ? by The Animals.

As an added bonus, we wouldn?t have to bother with a club shop in Liverpool One or naming it ? ?Everton FC ? The People?s Club?

?And God wept?.... I believe is the next verse.

Dick Fearon
5 Posted 23/03/2009 at 22:33:00

Some things do get ?done to death? yet Ray?s Robinsons letter brought back memories of a trip back home some years ago.

My wife and I, determined to sample some simple pleasures of our youth, took a river cruise. We chose a wrong time of year for that kind of caper. Freezing cold, blowing a gale and not another passenger in sight.

We clutched each other for warmth as the ferry with heaving decks battled battled the elements while "Ferry 'Cross The Mersey" blasted out on the tannoy at least a hundred times.

Wasn?t much fun then but thank you Ray for stirring what now is a very sweet memory.

John Dawson
6 Posted 23/03/2009 at 23:51:01

I personally wake up with Z-Cars on every matchday morning (my girlfriend is even humming it on a Saturday morning now!!). I personally get a good feeling whenever I hear a mobile go off with Z-Cars playing. It's great to hear and should be encouraged.

Duncan Maclachlan
7 Posted 24/03/2009 at 00:05:35

It does not get played as much as You?ll never fucking walk a bastard lone. Now does it?

Andrew Conroy
8 Posted 23/03/2009 at 23:50:08

Never!!! I very much enjoy it when I?m in a public place and my Z-Cars ringtone goes off. Even for urgent calls, I can?t answer until after the melody has kicked in. I also find playing it a dignified and stylish way to silence the whining of fans of teams we?ve turned over.

I take your point though, Ray. ?The People?s Club? tag definitely served a purpose, but it seems to have become a bit of a millstone.

?Grand Old Team? sends me to sleep these days, particularly how after the first couple of lines nobody can ever stay in time. ?Z-Cars? will always give me more of an adrenalin rush than the ?Rocky? theme-tune, no matter how many listens, and if I thought there was a semi-final ticket in it for me I?d listen to it until Steven Pienaar displayed some end product/Anfield froze over.

Peter Bradshaw
9 Posted 24/03/2009 at 00:10:26

Still gives me shivers everytime I hear it, please leave alone. What would you replace with anyway, I remember the 2001 space tune ? that was a joke... can't think of anything that will have the same effect.

Adrian Miles
10 Posted 24/03/2009 at 00:48:43

Similarly, I find ?...we don?t care what the red shite say? being sung all the time incredibly irritating. Why? Because I don?t care about ?em. Neither do they. It?s pathetic ? do they honour us by singing about us?

Dick Fearon
11 Posted 24/03/2009 at 05:34:54

After Z-Cars, my next best is Stars and Stripes Forever by Sousa. A real foot-stamping warm-up, always played before home kick-offs in the 50s and early 60s.

Ian Kearney
12 Posted 24/03/2009 at 10:50:51

I’d say the effect has been ruined by the ridiculous PL iniative of shaking hands before the match, it was far better when the players just ran out to their ends.

Joeynkoo Ludden
13 Posted 24/03/2009 at 10:56:13

As long as we always run out to Z Cars thats all I need. Just think, a big old traditional club like Villa run out to "We Will Rock You" and the locals sing along unashamed.. makes me chuckle everytime...so it could be worse!

Whats gotta stop is the PA announcing as loud as he can who is about to run out just as the Goodison roar goes up... we know who is coming out, we spent money on the smegging ticket...

ps. have just changed Z Cars to the grandstand theme on my mobile now out of respect Ray :)

Alan Hudson
14 Posted 24/03/2009 at 11:03:57

My Dad was watching Everton last season at Upton Park. On the tube back keeping a low profile amongst the disgruntled Hammers fans (we won), suddenly someones phone rings and guess what blares....of course Z cars.

You can’t have better club recognition than that (although i think watford nicked it). I mean there is nothing more classy than coming out to that

Admittedly it is over used, but we dont want to be one of those clubs coming out to chumbawumba or shite like that

Derek Turnbull
15 Posted 24/03/2009 at 11:06:23

Dick Fearon - I was not aware of us coming out to Stars and Stripes Forever, did that catch on amongst the fans as in they sung it themselves on the terraces during the match?

Phil Martin
16 Posted 24/03/2009 at 11:47:43

I remember changing my ringtone to the Champions League theme song during the summer after we finished 4th. It was quickly switched back to Z-Cars once we were quickly eliminated.

I don't remember us ever coming out to Space Odyssey.... does anyone have any clips or details on what year that was?
That?s hillarious...

Dick Fearon
17 Posted 24/03/2009 at 11:52:00

Derek T, the team did not run out to that tune. It was played before the game in a "setting the atmosphere" kind of thing. We did not sing to it.

Crowds nowadays led by a cheerleader behind the mike are expected to perform like a chorus on Broadway. TW posters have even complained that this or that part of the ground was not properly singing

When me and my mates went to Goodison, it was to watch a game of football ? it was not an audition to find the best singers.

Ron Hill
18 Posted 24/03/2009 at 12:33:08

Ray Robinson, sshhhh... Kenwright might be listening ? don?t be giving him any ideas.

Remember the truely awful re-working of "Bad Moon Rising"? I know he wasn?t in charge at the time, but I bet he loved it!!! ("I see the players a tryin?!!!!" FFS)

Alan Willo
19 Posted 24/03/2009 at 14:10:58

Z-Cars is great! Leave it alone please. If we are going to lose a song please, please make it "If you know your History" ? I hate this so much that I refuse to ever sing it and I leave the match ASAP to avoid it. Billy Marr... oh my god, it's so tackey!! We had a vote years ago to change and Land of Hope and Glory won but they never changed so I think Z-Cars will be with us till the end. EFC

Dominic Fitzpatrick
20 Posted 24/03/2009 at 14:41:41

There’s a difference between it being used on a phone queue and the noise it generates when the lads come on to the pitch.

I don’t even think they are in the same context at all, they don’t compare, and no matter how many times I hear it on ring tones, phone queues it will never dampen the feeling of a rocking Goodison prompted by the beat of the drums.

I don’t know how you can even compare the two to be honest...

Gary Rafferty
21 Posted 24/03/2009 at 14:48:20

On the subject of the pre-match "official Premier League hand-shake", what are the implications of Everton not playing the PL music while the handshaking takes place, and just carrying on with playing Z-Cars? What?s the worst that could happen, Scudamore & chums send Billy a stern letter?

James Boden
22 Posted 24/03/2009 at 15:14:41

Sorry Ray but Z-Cars will never bore me. It?s a fantastic and catchy tune and is the most unique anthem in the league maybe football. However, other teams have no lyric anthems? Not many that is for sure. It?s part of our tradition, part of our heritage and I for one will never groan when someone?s Z-Cars ringtone goes off half-a-dozen times. For me Z-Cars is simply the greatest and nothing will usurp it.
COYB

Phil Bellis
23 Posted 24/03/2009 at 17:08:25

I hate the’’Live from Goodison Park!’’ rubbish. Who’s that for? I know it’s live - I’m here watching it you dimdick!

Micky Norman
24 Posted 24/03/2009 at 17:16:40

Having done a Tebbit and moved away from the ?Pool a good few years ago and only going back to see Everton, the Z-Cars theme and the roar which comes with it is the one thing which makes me feel emotional about the place ? sends a tingle down the spine and dare I say it, brings me home. So definitely this post is blasphemy.

A good few years ago, I played in a folk/rock band and persuaded my mates to do a version of the original Johnny Todd but with the drum roll intro from the start of the Z-Cars version. It went down pretty well all over the place (we were based in Yorks) and it could always pick out the blues in the small audiences we played to. It took a few gigs for some of the other lads in the band who weren?t football fans to twig what was going on but we kept it in the set for quite a while. Happy days. Z-Cars forever.

Ray Robinson
25 Posted 24/03/2009 at 18:35:34

Micky, I never once suggested that we get rid off it when the team comes out. It’s just I hate ringing the club up, being put on hold for what seems an age listening to what appears to be a passionless tune when taken out of context. Overkill in my opinion.

Brian Waring
26 Posted 24/03/2009 at 18:48:11

Biggest mistake ever was buying my 9-year-old lad the Forever Everton CD. He likes to listen to a CD before he goes to sleep, so for 7 nights of the week, we have to have the Forever Everton CD on. I swear, if I have to hear All Together Now anymore, I?ll do myself in!!!

JL Slap
27 Posted 24/03/2009 at 18:56:09

Phil Martin, dont mean to rain on your parade but the Champs League theme was never played at Everton, cos we never qualified.
Against Villareal, we came out to Z cars as normal mate........we all know how that ended.

As for this debate, your favorite all time song could be getting played while on hold for something & you’d still be wound up. Being on hold pisses people off, one of them things.

Z-Cars is part of our identity, we should come out to that forever

Ray Robinson
28 Posted 24/03/2009 at 19:08:16

Most perceptive comment of the lot by JL there. It could be that a tune associated with something I love, is being tarnished by being linked to something I hate. Ever thought of studying psychology JL?

JL Slap
29 Posted 24/03/2009 at 19:14:08

Its Dr Slap thank you Raymundo

Tony Duvall
30 Posted 24/03/2009 at 22:02:33

I love it ? I think it should be played constantly... even more so when we are in Kirkby ? after all that's where Z-Cars was supposed to be based.

To be honest, I don't care what song it is as long as I don't ever ? and I mean ever ? hear Gerry singing that bastarding pile of shite You?ll Never Walk Again, with soap up your arse.

I hate it more than I can ever say.

Vishal Poorundersingh
31 Posted 25/03/2009 at 08:11:34

Where I can download Z-Cars ...can someone help me or if some of you have a soft copy in your PC then please mail it to me by attachment to the following email add... vishal22@youreverton.com. Thx...

Phil Bellis
32 Posted 25/03/2009 at 11:15:46

Tony - bloody Kirkby again!
You’ll be singing ’...the banks of the Royal Blue Alt’
Rhyme that! with jersey

Roger Osborne
33 Posted 25/03/2009 at 21:10:47

Better answer this before it goes off the forum pages. I have to say, being candid, that I was never a big fan of the Z-Cars introduction. I’m in the minority I know, but it never settled with me.

As for the authors suggestion of having Utah Saints coming out of the speakers, I actually like that song in question, but Saints are a Leeds band, and would be more appropriate being heard at Elland Road, but still a fine suggestion.

If not Z-Cars then what else? I would say some other Mersey sounds, such as perhaps Eleanor Rigby or the Scaffold classic "Lily the Pink", I always enjoyed that. Not going to happen is it?

Dennis Stevens
34 Posted 26/03/2009 at 01:19:17

I love the moment the drum roll starts as the teams come out & the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, sometimes that?s the highlight of the afternoon!

When I was a kid & often went to see worcester city i recall that the used to run out to Booker T & the MGs' Time is Tight ? that?s a good tune.

sheila davies
35 Posted 30/04/2009 at 11:10:08

can you tell me where I can download the z cars ringtone please