Preston North End Songs and Famous Chants: From Can’t Help Falling in Love to Lancashire is Wonderful
There is a certain type of wit that is employed by football supporters but that you rarely see from other mass groups. Perhaps the supporters of Europe during the Ryder Cup might come closest to the collective of football fans, with lovers of Preston North End being no different to many of their rivals on that front. Speaking of rivals, it is fair to say that Blackpool is the club that Preston supporters find themselves most often turning their ire on, often with less than family-friendly lyrics. Not that you’d expect much different from lovers of the national game, of course, which often sees coarse language used.
Given the fact that Deepdale is the oldest football ground that has been in continuous use anywhere in the world, combined with the football club itself being one of the oldest around, some of the songs brought out by fans of the club are often about figures from the team’s illustrious history.
The first English side to win the ‘double’ of the top-flight title and the FA Cup, as well as being the first to go unbeaten during the entirety of a league season, Preston fans have plenty to sing about. Often, though, it is the club’s present that is celebrated as much as it is the club’s past.
As you might imagine, the constantly changing nature of football support is such that the songs listed here won’t necessarily be up to date by the time you come to read about them. Similarly, the list is far from exhaustive, so if you think that there is something missing that you’ve heard when watching Preston, either in person or on the television, you are almost certainly right.
Can’t Help Falling in Love
Most football fans want to spend their time showing their love and appreciation for the football team that they support. On that front, Preston North End supporters are no different from anyone else. There is an argument that the song performed by Elvis Presley in the 1961 film Blue Hawaii fits the bill on that front perfectly, given the fact that it is all about the fact that football fans are all but helpless when it comes to their love and adoration for a particular team and set of players. Why support Preston rather than, say, Liverpool or Manchester United? It can’t be helped.
Whilst the majority of the tune is sung exactly like the original, there is a slight twist at the end that makes it more about something that is unique to Preston North End:
Wise men say,
Only fools rush in,
But I can’t help,
Falling in love with you.
Take my hand,
Take my whole life too,
For I can’t help,
Falling in love with you.
The North End,
The North End,
The North End…
Preston North End
Some of the most popular songs are those that are easy to sing and have a good tune. Preston North End have come up with their own lyrics to the song by Steam (The Band) known as Na Na Na Na Hey Hey-ey Goodbye. It isn’t full of original ideas or thoughts, nor is it particularly complex to the point that you might find yourself wondering how anyone had created it in the first place. Instead, it is straight to the point, offers a love of Preston and can create a decent atmosphere when the supporters start singing it. Here are the lyrics to the PNE version:
Na na na na,
Na na na na
Hey-ey:
Preston North End!
Na na na na,
Na na na na
Hey-ey:
Preston North End!
Twist & Shout
One of the country’s most famous and successful bands of all time is The Beatles, coming from Liverpool, which is not too far from Preston. That might well be why the supporters decided to adopt the song for their own use. Although it hasn’t really been adapted in any way to show that it is linked to the football club, it can provide a brilliant atmosphere when the fans get it going and it really takes off. They don’t tend to sing the entire song, but rather opt for the following on repeat:
Well, shake it up, baby, now (shake it up baby)!
Twist and shout (twist and shout)!
Come on, come on, come, come on, baby, now (come on baby)!
Come on and work it on out (work it on out)!
Well, work it on out, honey (work it on out)!
You know you look so good (look so good)!
You know you got me goin’ now (got me goin’)!
Just like you knew you would (like I knew you would)!
Coming Down the Road
Another song that was popularised in Liverpool, but by the supporters who take their place on the Kop rather than the mop-headed Fab Four, is Coming Down the Road, which pays homage to the ‘Bill Shankly Boys’. Shankly, of course, was as well known to fans of the Lilywhites as those that turn up to Anfield every week, given that he played nearly 300 league games for the club. That might well help to explain the supporters’ decision to take the song and adapt it slightly for their own use, with the following being what they sing:
We’ll be coming,
We’ll be coming,
We’ll be coming down the road!
When you hear the noise
Of the Preston North End Boys,
We’ll be coming down the road…
The Turf Moor Song
Whilst Blackpool are one of the main clubs that take the majority of the mocking from Preston North End supporters, it isn’t the only one. There is also an amount of disgust aimed towards Burnley, which this chant tends to do the job of summing up quite well. Once again, it is not one for young people to be engaging with if they have responsible parents…
Sung to the tune of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, it goes as follows:
Always look on the Turf Moor for Shite!
Dada, dada, dada, dada, dada!
Always look on the Turf Moor for Shite!
Dada, dada, dada, dada, dada!
I Just Can’t Get Enough
When Luis Suárez was tearing it up in a red shirt for Liverpool, the Kopites popularised a version of Just Can’t Get Enough in his honour. In the years since then, football clubs up and down the country have seen their own supporters sing versions that reflect their love of the team that they follow, which is where this song comes in for Preston supporters, who sing this:
De de de de de de,
De de de de de de,
Preston North End!
When I see Preston,
I can’t get them out of my head!
I just can’t get enough.
I just can’t get enough.
All the things you do to me,
All the things you said:
I just can’t get enough.
I just can’t get enough.
We slip and slide
And we fall in love
And I just can’t seem to get enough of…
(Repeat)
Jump Around
Blackpool supporters will often come in for the most stick from Preston fans, which is where this chant comes from. It would be untrue to suggest that it’s anything other than a simple ditty aimed at mocking Tangerine supporters and creating a good atmosphere by getting those that love Preston North End physically engaged. It goes like this:
Jump around if you hate Blackpool!
Jump around if you hate Blackpool!
Jump around if you hate Blackpool!
Jump around if you hate Blackpool!
(Repeat)
Lancashire is Wonderful
Part of the problem with football in general is that it is a male-dominated sport. The emergence of the women’s game in recent years is great news, but it shouldn’t be the case that girls and women are only allowed to watch one iteration of the national sport. Whether we like it or not, however, the chants and songs that are sung by supporters are almost inevitably full of sexist thoughts, emerging as a clear sign of where females are placed in the eyes of many football fans. That might well be best demonstrated by the lyrics to Lancashire is Wonderful, which should be about a love of the local area.
In some ways, it is. Yet there are also moments that will make the toes of many curl up as they listen. It is fair to say, therefore, that it is probably not a chant that is suitable for younger people to join in with, but it is a part of the repertoire of Preston North End lovers and it goes like this:
Oh Lancashire, (Oh Lancashire),
Is wonderful (is wonderful)!
Oh Lancashire is wonderful,
It’s full of tits, fanny and Preston,
Oh Lancashire is wonderful…