Tilted - Christine and The Queens

Also released under the titles "Christine" and "Cripple", the song is by Héloïse Letissier who records under the name Christine and the Queens. "Christine" is the French version from 2014. "Cripple" and "Tilted" are English versions from 2012 and 2015. It was named one of the 10 best songs of 2015 by Time magazine. "Christine" was a number one hit in Belgium and a number 3 in France, while "Tilted" became a top 20 hit in the UK and in Ireland.

Letissier first wrote the song in English with the title "Cripple" but the chorus "I actually do enjoy being a cripple" did not go down well at a concert in Brighton. She reworked the lyrics in French as "Christine" for her 2014 debut album, and from this made another English version, "Tilted". The English and French versions are not translations and have significant differences, eg the English begins "I will die before Methuselah / So I'll fight sleep with ammonia," while the French may be translated "I start books at the end / And I hold my chin high for nothing " (Je commence les livres par la fin / Et j'ai le menton haut pour un rien).

Letissier says the song is "an easy song with an uneasy subject. It's about feeling out of place, not finding your balance, or being depressed even, but with playful images, with a song you can dance on." It is about "embracing the fact that you can't really find your balance", which in her case is embracing her own awkwardness and the feeling of being imperfect. It is about "embracing who you are", and "being proud of who you are and where you stand". She explained the English title of the song: "The French song is talking about the same difficulty of turning on your feet. I was searching for lots of images or words that could fit, and I just stumbled upon this word, to tilt or be tilted, and I was exactly trying to find this image. It's literally talking about not finding your balance with a playful image."

Theologically, of course, it is incorrect to suppose that I am actually good and that it is the world that is tilted. The world is tilted but so am I. Hence the awkwardness and a whole lot more that is often quite unpleasant.

Viva Bobby Joe - The Equals

I recall one day in 1969 hearing a boy in school singing "Viva Bobby Moore, viva Bobby Moore". Bobby Moore I knew was England captain but quite where the song came from I was not sure. I now realise it must have been a chant on the terraces and is based on the song by the multi-racial group The Equals. The writer of the song was Eddy Grant, who went on to have solo success. It is not clear what the Equals are singing about and the words give little away. They are presumably referencing a musician in the funk style (Bobby Joe and his funk machine) and how everybody's gonna see a sensation. He has already been from Liverpool to Brighton ... in next to no time and now he is about to do a homecoming gig for the first time ... since he made the big time. "Bobby's gonna do an open-air show for free". Is it a veiled reference to Bob Marley? The football chant was eventually released in punk style in 1994 by The Business. "Bobby Moore viva Bobby Moore ... Bobby Moore's football machine. Everybody knew they'd seen a sensation, a sensation. Hear what I say now Bobby Moore's football machine ... West Ham to England's Wembley, They knew it just maybe he's the best they have ever seen. Taught people how to play, the football game including Pele who said he was the best he' d ever seen ... No. 6 was all he knew he was the best in red white and blue. Turned out to be the Captain of the crew. Beckenbauer would look in awe, Bobby was the score in a sensation." The song was also sung by other football crowds in celebration of others such as Billy Best of Southend United. There was a French version of the original song by Claude François - Vivre que c'est bon. It was adapted by François and Ann Grégory.