"All Together Now" is a song by Liverpudlian band The Farm from their album Spartacus, and links some of the band's favourite themes: socialism, brotherhood and football. Peter Hooton wrote the lyrics in his early 20s after reading about the Christmas truce of 1914. The song was first recorded under the title "No Man's Land" for a John Peel session in 1983. In 1990, Hooton wrote the chorus after Steve Grimes suggested putting the lyrics of No Man's Land to the chord progression of Pachelbel's Canon. To shorten the song for radio, the producer Suggs cut the song to three verses from its original six. It has been used by numerous football teams since, as well as by the Labour Party for their 2017 general election campaign, often played during rallies.
Composition and release
The song was produced by Suggs, a founding member of the band Madness, and recorded at Mayfair Studios. It took its inspiration from the Christmas Day Truce in World War I where on Christmas Day 1914 soldiers from both sides put their weapons down and met in no-mans-land to exchange gifts and play football. The song has a chord sequence taken directly from Johann Pachelbel's "Canon". It was originally released on 26 November 1990 peaking at no.4 on the UK Singles Chart, no.1 in the NME Independent chart and no.7 on the U.S. BillboardModern Rock Tracks chart and its single cover showed a subbuteo figure wearing an army uniform and brandishing a Bren machine gun. It was also the last video shown on The Power Station on 8 April 1991.
Promotion
In March 1994, it was performed by the band and a host of Liverpudlians in front of the Spion Kop at Anfield before the last ever Merseyside derby in front of the old Kop, which was demolished later that year and replaced by an all-seater stand. In 2007 it was used in Scottish television adverts for Clydesdale Bank and in UK-wide advertisements promoting Cancer Research UK's Race for Life. It is also used as the theme tune for Sky Sports Football League coverage and as the ending theme of the 1994 movie Double Dragon.
It was only released in German speaking Europe. It reached no. 16 in Germany, becoming their fifth highest charting single over there. It peaked at no.35 and no.42 in Austria and Switzerland.
Charts
Everton F.C. version
In May 1995, the song was released by Everton F.C. on occasion of its appearance in the 1995 FA Cup Final. The hit credited to "Everton FA Cup Squad 1995" peaked at 24 in the UK Singles chart. The release also contained a second version as "All Together Now - D.i.y Mix".
The song was released in another football context this time to promote the campaign of the England national football team during Euro 2004 which took place in Portugal in June and July 2004. Titled "Euro 2004 ", it was edited by DJ Spoony and featured additional vocals by the St Francis Xavier Boys Choir of Liverpool. This version, released on 31 May 2004, peaked at 5 in the UK Singles Chart. The song was also remixed by Scouse producers BCD Project. The remix was featured on the Clubland 5 compilation in 2004. This version was also included in the compilation Sports Themes subtitled "20 Classic Sport Themes" in July 2004.
