The writers of Coventry City’s overlooked FA Cup single have ended their nearly 40-year silence to declare: “We wuz robbed.”
Musicians Steve and Heather Taylor maintain that Go For It – performed by the players – should have been a top ten hit. It wasn’t, due to a mistake by Gallup, which compiled the sales figures.
The record books show that on May 16, 1987, Coventry lifted the cup for the first and only time in their history with a thrilling 3-2 extra time victory over Spurs. It is regarded as one of the finest finals in the competition’s illustrious history.
The charts indicate that husband and wife Steve and Heather’s single reached Number 61 at its peak. Spurs lost the match, but comfortably won the battle of obligatory FA Cup 45s.
Their entry, Chas and Dave’s “Hot Shot Tottenham”, climbed to 18.
That continues to frustrate the Coventry duo. “We were distributing Go For It from our home,” Steve, who continues to perform on stage, said.
“Gallup rang us up and said it will definitely be top 30. Then we got a call saying the (sales) figures didn’t match with the distribution figures.”
There were suspicions that something underhand was happening, that Go For It’s commercial performance was being exaggerated. In truth, precise distribution figures were virtually impossible to establish because of Steve and Heather’s direct involvement in delivering their anthem.
Consequently, the record was demoted.
If only they had vinyl VAR back then.
The pair must settle for the knowledge that Go For It – an uplifting, foot-stomping track – topped the Coventry charts for a month, outsold Madonna’s La Isla Bonita by ten to one in the city, and was ranked 16th best FA Cup song in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The players even performed it on Blue Peter.
Not bad going for a hit put together in their own modest three-bedroom Keresley semi – 13 players belting out lyrics in the living room – and released on the club’s Sky Blue label.
Steve and Heather – the latter a near-fanatical supporter of the side – remain enormously proud of what they produced.
“I think it still sounds amazing,” Steve said. “The energy is still there, it still comes out of the speakers and shouts at you.”
The pair remain somewhat dismissive of the rival Spurs anthem. “I feel it was Chas and Dave making the record,” Steve near scowled.
“It’s basically a Chas and Dave tribute to Tottenham. I don’t think it has credibility – the credibility is hearing the team.”
Much like Coventry’s cup triumph, the Go For It story is one of hope, ambition, drama, perseverance and an unwillingness to accept defeat.
Steve and Heather, however, were far from mere starry-eyed supporters who jotted down the beginnings of a song on the back of a fag packet and crossed their fingers. They boast an impressive musical CV, having written for a number of high-profile names and reaching number seven in the charts with Daniel O’Donnell’s Give a Little Love.
They were also well-versed in the “soccer songs” genre. Count Me In was written during the 1981-82 season to boost Sky Blue season ticket sales, “Unite” was penned for the national side as a protest against ’80s hooliganism.
The Daily Star intended to release it as a flexi disc, before abandoning the plan.
Hope!
Heather actually started composing Go For It in December 1986, when the cup had only progressed to its second round. “I just had this feeling,” she said.
“I believed it would be a cup final song – I just felt it.”
Her dedication to her team runs deep: “She’s been a Sky Blue fan since four-years-old and bleeds sky blue,” Steve explained. “Everything revolves around Coventry City. I do a lot of Sunday shows because of the fixtures.”
Despair!
Go For It was largely dismissed by the industry’s major players. The city’s own Pete Waterman politely kept his distance: “He’s a lovely man and he was very approachable,” Steve emphasised.
“But he said, ‘I don’t think we’ll get involved in this one because we only really record what we write’. He passed on it and I understand why.”
EMI were enthusiastic, but courteously declined. “They said Coventry didn’t have a big enough following and that put my back up,” Heather recalled.
I said, ‘right we’ll do it all’. “. Perseverance! Indeed, they took matters into their own hands. Backed by the club’s FA Cup agent Joe Stainer, players piled into the Taylors’ home only days after beating Leeds 3-2 in the semis. “There were two cases of lager that helped the session immensely,” Steve laughed. “We did a run through and it was brilliant. Heather on the chorus, I’m singing most of it all the way through.
“The press pack – alerted by neighbours – got wind of the gathering while it happened, leading to BBC interviews and a slot on popular TV show Saint and Greavsie.Despair! Gripped in a race against time, the song’s initial cut was so distorted it was binned. “I played it and Heather was in tears,” Steve recalled. With only days to go, it was almost back to the drawing board.Drama! The players nearly fluffed their big TV moment on Blue Peter – just two days before Wembley – by turning up at the studio late. They’d been delayed by a round of golf.Heather said: “A guy with a clipboard kept coming up and asking, ‘where are the team?
If they’re not here soon, we’re going to have to pull it’. They turned up at 3.50, the show went out live at 5pm.
“Perseverance! Yes, they did it all. Backed by the club’s FA Cup agent Joe Stainer, players piled into the Taylors’ home only days after beating Leeds 3-2 in the semis. “(Blue Peter stalwart) Biddy Baxter arrived and told the team they could only have one Blue Peter badge between all of them,” Steve laughed. “Once she’d gone, they were handing them out left, right and centre. “Despite dominating local radio air time – Coventry Radio played it near non-stop for 24 hours after the cup was lifted – Go For It failed to threaten the Top 20. As a hit, it failed to go for it.Is the disc rare?”Don’t know,” Steve shrugged. “I know we’ve got a few copies around the house.
“It will not be remembered as a cup classic yet still holds a place in some supporters’ hearts. “I spoke to one man just two months ago and he still plays it every night,” Steve added.
That man’s wife surely deserves one of the Blue Peter badges showered on players and musicians. You can almost hear her saying, ‘not again, please’.