‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’: How the Scotland national football team single-handedly made Disco trendy again
Can a football team shake the world with its dance moves? As surprising as it may sound, Scotland's national team did just that and seems to have made a 1970s disco classic its unofficial national anthem after a captivating clip of ecstatic players dancing to the tunes of the Spanish song ‘Yes Sir, I Can Boogie’ surfaced online. The footage featuring team members chanting and dancing to the 1977 hit single by Spanish vocal duo Baccara went viral after they defeated Serbia on penalties. Why were they shaking a leg to that particular song? Interestingly, defender Andrew Considine turned heads when a hilarious video of him dancing — dressed in drag — with friends at his stag party on that same track was leaked in 2015.
At the time when the spoof video went viral, former team-mate Jamie Langfield told BBC: "It was meant for his wedding only for the people who went there. And it has come out and he'll be a bit sheepish about it. But he's the type who'll just take it on the chin."
This is the best video to ever exist pic.twitter.com/IEWe0rylpo
— lewis ferguson (@lewisferguson7) November 12, 2020
He continued, "Andrew's a very quiet lad in the changing room. He's very reserved and, when I first saw it, I thought 'that's a bit naughty, a bit risque' and a lot of people have said that as well. Probably manager Derek McInnes might have had a wee word with him today, but he will need to take it on the chin and will need to take the banter from the boys as well." Lending his support to Considine, he added, "Let's just say I'm not one who is going to complain about people doing stupid things on their stag do. I went away with some friends and obviously the one person you don't want to bump into three days into a three-day bender is your manager."
Five years later, when another video on the same song was circulated on social media after qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament, many supporters called for it to be adopted as the national team anthem!
The fiasco caught the attention of none other than Maria Mendiola, 68, of Spanish duo Baccara. Thrilled to see those videos, she exclusively told The Scottish Sun that she wants to go back into the studio to record a new version of the '70s hit with the players.
Speaking to SunSport, Neil Grant — known for another anthem, 'There's Nae Team Like Scotland' — who hoped the SFA will officially adopt the song revealed he was keen on the prospect of working together on the new track. "I already had my own entry on the go which has been fairly well-received but it's obvious that 'Yes Sir, I Can Boogie' is the song of the fans. And having read that Maria herself was keen to collaborate and do a song for Scotland, that gave me the lightbulb moment to think: 'Well, why not have Scotland's most well-known football anthem writer do a collaboration with her?'"
He added, "So I got in touch with Maria over the phone and we had a nice chat, she was a lovely woman, and she was very keen on the idea. She said that as long as it was okay with her manager, then she was happy to go ahead with that. I then got the green light in principle from her manager and so all it's now hanging on is the SFA to give it the go-ahead."
Neil also added that he, Maria and her current band partner Christina Sevilla are excited to move forward but can only go ahead if SFA confirms. "Without their green light, we won't be able to get permission for the squad to sing on the choruses, which is what we need. If the squad aren't going to be singing on the track then Baccara won't be interested in doing it, I don't think. But I don't think there's going to be a more attractive proposition than when you combine someone who knows the knack of writing football anthems with the song of the moment."
Confessing "I don't see how it can go wrong", he added, "I'll be remaining faithful to the original song. The idea is just to put a slightly more football anthemic spin on it while maintaining the retro feel of it. The plan is to change some of the lyrics in the verses so that it's about the Scotland team but obviously, the chorus will remain untouched. You could never change the chorus!"
A huge fan of the Scottish team, he joked Considine won't have to wear a skimpy outfit this time. "If we get the green light from the SFA and then have at least some of the squad involved, it would be an amazing experience. To direct the players in the studio would be a dream come true for me. I know Maria is a big fan of Andy Considine. Although, let's hope he dresses appropriately this time!" he continued.
Watch Andrew Considine's viral video here: