FA Cup Final Song

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Is it right that "Abide With Me" is a Cup Final tradition started by Frederick Rinder?  I think he suggested it to the FA?  Edit: Yep, a quick Google search tells me it has already been discussed here.  Still, nice to know where the tradition started.

If that's true about Rinder, then need we look any further than Abide With Me for a club anthem?

A version was sung by some blokes on the Holte in the run up to the 1977 league cup final - back then you would get separate songs and chants from different groups of fans at the same time. The only bit I can recall was "follow the Villa, home and away". (Slightly unusual in that I don't think they sang Abide with Me before the league cup final so I assumed it was just a Wembley related thing).

Do any old timers on here recall this song?

Yes, I remember that being sung, Pat Mac. Along with "We Shall Overcome", "He Was Saying Goodbye to his Horse", "We've got faith in the Villa" and, probably most bizarrely,  The Beach Boys "Barbara Ann" complete with harmonies.

"Goodbye horse" was one of my faves back in the day - totally meaningless as far as I can remember...started singing it after the midweek Bitters' game and surprised at the number of old farts who joined in!
Love it!
A revival is due!
UTV!

[SirSteveUK]

i will definitely struggle to hold myself together during Abide with me.

Me too - thinking of family Villains no longer with us.....

[silhillvilla]

i will definitely struggle to hold myself together during Abide with me.

Me too - thinking of family Villains no longer with us.....

Indeed. They will be looking on I'm sure.

[Nelly]

Is it right that "Abide With Me" is a Cup Final tradition started by Frederick Rinder?  I think he suggested it to the FA?  Edit: Yep, a quick Google search tells me it has already been discussed here.  Still, nice to know where the tradition started.

If that's true about Rinder, then need we look any further than Abide With Me for a club anthem?

Just out of curiosity, how do we know that to be true please? Do we have any proof? I'm overjoyed reading this - Villa are incredible.

[dave.woodhall]

Is it right that "Abide With Me" is a Cup Final tradition started by Frederick Rinder?  I think he suggested it to the FA?  Edit: Yep, a quick Google search tells me it has already been discussed here.  Still, nice to know where the tradition started.

If that's true about Rinder, then need we look any further than Abide With Me for a club anthem?

Just out of curiosity, how do we know that to be true please? Do we have any proof? I'm overjoyed reading this - Villa are incredible.

John Russell says so.

[richl]

Not according to thefa.com

The singing of Henry Lyte's famous hymn "Abide With Me" has been part of FA Cup Final tradition since 1927.
That year's Final between Arsenal and Cardiff City was only the fifth at what was then the "new" Wembley Stadium. King George V and Queen Mary attended in those days and "Abide With Me" was known to be one of their favourite hymns. FA secretary Sir Frederick Wall arranged for it to be included on the songsheet.
It was the year in which community singing was introduced into the pre-match programme. The first conductor was TP Ratcliffe, who became famous as "The Man in White". He was followed after World War Two by Arthur Caiger, a London headmaster, and then by Frank Rea, who continued until the 1970s.
The melancholy words to "Abide With Me" were written by Henry Francis Lyte, a Devon vicar, in 1847. He completed them on the same day as he delivered his last sermon at the "All Saints" parish church in Brixham. Three weeks later, then in his mid-50s, he died of tuberculosis.
The hymn has become part of the ritual of Cup Final Day. Its deep, stirring sound seems to knit together different loyalties and backgrounds, providing a moment of unity before the battle to come.
"Hold now your cross before my closing eyes,
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies,
Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee,
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me."

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

"Abide With Me" was chosen, like many others, for my Dad's funeral.
Incredibly emotional song. There's a DH Lawrence short story where it features and I even struggled to share that bit with my students.
Couldn't sing it then.
Won't be able to sing it 30th May.

Come on you Lions!

[Tony Erdington]

HOLTE ENDERS IN THE SKY

[Pat McMahon]

It's strange, but we were brought up as Catholics and I don't think I have ever heard Abide With Me sung in a Catholic Church, be it in mass or at a funeral. It is a song that I associate exclusively with the FA Cup.

[Richard E]

'Three-nil, three-nil, three-nil' , preferably after about 15 minutes.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

It's a song I associate with funerals and the FA Cup.
Strange blend.

And I'm Catholic too Pat.
Funny old world innit?

[FrankyH]

Anyone remember "Hey Aston Villa , Hey Aston Villa" early 80's . It wouldn't be one of my Desert Island Disks, but cant find it on youtube , but its definitely in  my Aston Villa Music Hall of Fame.

[Pat McMahon]

Anyone remember "Hey Aston Villa , Hey Aston Villa" early 80's . It wouldn't be one of my Desert Island Disks, but cant find it on youtube , but its definitely in  my Aston Villa Music Hall of Fame.

Ricky Disoni? I used to cringe at the line " long live the glorious past".

Probably as bad as "We're going Up" from the 1975 team.

[Pat McMahon]

It's a song I associate with funerals and the FA Cup.
Strange blend.

And I'm Catholic too Pat.
Funny old world innit?

Indeed Mr Moss. I was talking to a friend earlier and she pointed out that Abide with Me was played at her mom's funeral only 18 months ago. It was a humanist cemetery in a crematorium though, and Human by the Killers is the one from the service that stuck in my mind.

[adrenachrome]

Anyone remember "Hey Aston Villa , Hey Aston Villa" early 80's . It wouldn't be one of my Desert Island Disks, but cant find it on youtube , but its definitely in  my Aston Villa Music Hall of Fame.

I remember a song which went "Oh Oh Oh Aston Villa" which I first heard at VP against Sterk in Spring 1967 and which survived through the 70's.