Halftime Oranges
BIOGRAPHY
Halftime Oranges was formed by Grant Madden (ex Passing Cl… Read Full Bio ↴BIOGRAPHY
Halftime Oranges was formed by Grant Madden (ex Passing Clouds) and David Miles (ex The Potting Sheds) in September 1994 in order to write pop songs with a common footballing theme. They signed to Rutland Records on the strength of a demo tape which became their first single, the five track Peel Park EP, in April 1995. Shortly afterwards, they were commissioned to write a song about Eric Cantona for a compilation CD on Exotica Records which celebrated the end of Eric's "kung-fu" ban in October 1995.
Their debut album, Clive Baker Set Fire To Me, was released by Rutland Records in April 1996 to universal critical acclaim. The title referred to an unfortunate incident from the schooldays of former Premier League goalkeeper Clive Baker and their bass player at the time, Colin Brown. Apparently, it was common practice at their school for senior boys to ambush the first years wielding home-made Brut 33 aerosol flamethrowers and Colin did not escape a toasting.
The inspiration for their second album, Rotterdamnation, was the 1966 landmark Beach Boys album, Pet Sounds. The title referred to the nadir of the Graham Taylor era when England travelled to Holland in control of their own destiny but ultimately failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup Finals. Without specifically mentioning that game, Grant's bittersweet lyrics effectively mirrored the atmosphere of frustration, disappointment and underachievement we all felt on that night.
DISCOGRAPHY
April 1995
Peel Park E.P.
Rutland Records RUTEP9 7 inch vinyl
The only Cockney Rebel / Billyโs Boots / Terry Butcher / No goals, no dolly birds, no Jensen Interceptor / Cats go for Go-Cat
October 1995
Cantona The Album
Exotica Records Pelรฉ 10CD CD and cassette compilation album
Eric (Please donโt go)
February 1996
Clive Baker Set Fire To Me
Rutland Records RUTCD3 CD album
Terry Butcher / A million ways / The only Halifax supporter / Single leather football / Whatโs the fuss about Ryan Giggs / Blues for John Gidman / Wembley / Billyโs Boots / Saturday / Hair / Bob Stokoe says / Battison / The only Cockney Rebel / East Fife 4 Forfar 5 / He can watch the football
October 1997
Rotterdamnation
Rutland Records RUTCD5 CD album
Any team will do / Terrace girl / Vinny Jones / Six point Christmas / Panini / Zig zag to the onion bag / A gospel song / Second city blues / Billy Daneโs grown up / The girl from 4b / Theme from Orange / Yesterdayโs hero / Occupations / Stars / Moving the goalposts
April 2000
Singing The Blues โ The Songs Of Ipswich Town F.C.
Cherry Red Records CD GAFFER 32 CD compilation album
Terry Butcher
February 2001
Highbury Anthems โ 18 Gooner Classics
Cherry Red Records CD GAFFER45 CD compilation album
The only Cockney Rebel
March 2001
Everything Went Pop!
Meller Welle Produkte MEL 32 CD compilation album
Pass, shoot & score / All my resolutions
SOME REVIEWS OF CLIVE BAKER SET FIRE TO ME
Action Replay
A brilliant new CD featuring the classic East Fife 4 Forfar 5 - the musical equivalent of watching Fantasy Football League.
Mail On Sunday
The best ever moment of the now solid marriage between football and pop comes courtesy of Halftime Oranges whose LP Clive Baker Set Fire To Me is a work of comic genius.
Brown*Star
The HTOs, in the bold tradition of Serious Drinking, I Ludicrous and Half Man Half Biscuit, give us a series of jangly vignettes on various themes from the beautiful game.
React
Cool breezy pop with words about football. What more could anyone ask for? The song titles are great, the tunes infectious.
Totally Wired
A whole album full of jangly pop songs all about football. The childlike nostalgia of 'Single Leather Football' is touching and there are some witty lyrics.
Total Football
The music is all limp guitars and happy tunes. Sigh. The lyrics have a surreal quality.
Lowestoft Journal
The album contains 15 short and snappy tracks of bright and breezy indie pop with a very laid back groove making it more than listenable. The lyrics are witty, sharp and instantly understandable to any fan. Equally worth checking out for indie fans and footy fans alike, the boys done good with this album.
No Way Referee
All nice and breezy pop that jangles from the terrace that is the turntable. Go buy it.
Stagedive
Beautiful la-di-dah pop tunes about all things football including a neat Charlie George tribute. Musically Sarah like, comically genius. Boyish humour, loveable laddish stuff.
Dominik Diamond, BBC Radio Five
Grant Madden is the greatest lyricist in this country. Forget Oasis, Blur and anyone like that.
Daily Star
Halftime Oranges ultra-brilliant debut CD has 15 tracks, and just like Justin Fashanu, all the songs have a football bent. This little bobby-dazzler features the unforgettable classic East Fife 4 Forfar 5.
Melody Maker
It's quite literally all about football. It's almost viciously fey. It starts with a paean to Terry Butcher to the tune of 'She Drives Me Crazy' by FYC. It sometimes hits the halcyon heights of Jilted John's 'True Love Stories'. It criminally abbreviates the brilliant title of 'The Only Cockney Rebel Who Ever Meant A Thing To Me Was Charlie George'. It's nasty to Ryan Giggs. It matters little but it means a lot. Quite extraordinary.
Blaster!
A gem of an album that makes me jump around the room in a fit of euphoria. The Oranges follow in the Norfolk tradition of The Farmer's Boys, Higsons and Serious Drinking. This edition's must have.
The Side
Probably the best record we've ever reviewed. If you buy only one record this century, make sure it's this one.
The Onion Bag
Very light-hearted, they sound a bit like The Housemartins mucking about.
Cry Wolf
The perfect soundtrack to Paul Whitehouse's ex-Manager soccer pundit on The Fast Show. Upbeat and clever, with an indie jangle and slightly twee feel.
Round And Round
A walk down the path to Dreamy-Indie-Pop-Land.
Highbury High
Funny but wistful in a style best described as a cross between The Smiths and The Beautiful South.
The Barber's Pole
The Halftime Oranges are breaking new ground in football related songs. Don't miss the revolution.
E.P.
Fifteen Housemartins-style pop ditties with catchy choruses and hilarious lyrics. It's definitely the album for you if Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch is your life story. The songs are full of cute hooks and it's brilliantly packaged.
Philosophy Football
Prepare to swoon along to the jingly-jangly sound of indie-pop meets terrace chant.
Organ
Indie pop with a football theme. The music is very lightweight 80's jangly indie pop - kind of a Wedding Present/Pullover thing.
Away From The Numbers
Ideal listening for the summer months, to get you in the right mood for the forthcoming season. Definitely recommended.
Wide
The music is innocent pop tunes, the kind that were in vogue in 1986, the sentiments are very real, the kind that are in vogue nowadays.
SOME REVIEWS OF ROTTERDAMNATION
The Abbey Rabbit
Encompasses influences as diverse as the jangling guitars of the Housemartins, the thoughtful ballads of The Beautiful South (without being quite as insipid) to the rye humour of Half Man Half Biscuit and the sharp insight of Difford and Tilbrook. The perfect post-match antidote to the righteous self-pontificating of David Mellor on Six-O-Six.
Four Four Two
The genuinely witty songs and the innate chirpiness of it all wins you over after a couple of listens.
Total Football
Comfortably the most surreal album I've ever listened to, this is distinctly alternative, football-obsessed, bubblegum pop. A bit like The Lightning Seeds, if the Broudie bunch only wrote songs about Panini stickers and Six Point Christmases.
Scotland On Sunday
A collection of poignant little vignettes about football's emotional repercussions that are painfully comic, comically painful. The music is more Pat Nevin than Vinny Jones, but you're too busy laughing at the words to mind.
The Observer
Football flavoured without being Chas and Dave, glory, glory, up the Spurs. This is far more subtle and a degree of concentration is required to pick up the theme of each number. The cleverly written vocals carry some Pulp-ish mannerisms and on occasions a tinge of The Beautiful South.
Match
The lyrics are brilliant. 'Vinny Jones', 'Panini' and 'Theme From Orange' are modern footy classics.
Halftime Oranges was formed by Grant Madden (ex Passing Cl… Read Full Bio ↴BIOGRAPHY
Halftime Oranges was formed by Grant Madden (ex Passing Clouds) and David Miles (ex The Potting Sheds) in September 1994 in order to write pop songs with a common footballing theme. They signed to Rutland Records on the strength of a demo tape which became their first single, the five track Peel Park EP, in April 1995. Shortly afterwards, they were commissioned to write a song about Eric Cantona for a compilation CD on Exotica Records which celebrated the end of Eric's "kung-fu" ban in October 1995.
Their debut album, Clive Baker Set Fire To Me, was released by Rutland Records in April 1996 to universal critical acclaim. The title referred to an unfortunate incident from the schooldays of former Premier League goalkeeper Clive Baker and their bass player at the time, Colin Brown. Apparently, it was common practice at their school for senior boys to ambush the first years wielding home-made Brut 33 aerosol flamethrowers and Colin did not escape a toasting.
The inspiration for their second album, Rotterdamnation, was the 1966 landmark Beach Boys album, Pet Sounds. The title referred to the nadir of the Graham Taylor era when England travelled to Holland in control of their own destiny but ultimately failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup Finals. Without specifically mentioning that game, Grant's bittersweet lyrics effectively mirrored the atmosphere of frustration, disappointment and underachievement we all felt on that night.
DISCOGRAPHY
April 1995
Peel Park E.P.
Rutland Records RUTEP9 7 inch vinyl
The only Cockney Rebel / Billyโs Boots / Terry Butcher / No goals, no dolly birds, no Jensen Interceptor / Cats go for Go-Cat
October 1995
Cantona The Album
Exotica Records Pelรฉ 10CD CD and cassette compilation album
Eric (Please donโt go)
February 1996
Clive Baker Set Fire To Me
Rutland Records RUTCD3 CD album
Terry Butcher / A million ways / The only Halifax supporter / Single leather football / Whatโs the fuss about Ryan Giggs / Blues for John Gidman / Wembley / Billyโs Boots / Saturday / Hair / Bob Stokoe says / Battison / The only Cockney Rebel / East Fife 4 Forfar 5 / He can watch the football
October 1997
Rotterdamnation
Rutland Records RUTCD5 CD album
Any team will do / Terrace girl / Vinny Jones / Six point Christmas / Panini / Zig zag to the onion bag / A gospel song / Second city blues / Billy Daneโs grown up / The girl from 4b / Theme from Orange / Yesterdayโs hero / Occupations / Stars / Moving the goalposts
April 2000
Singing The Blues โ The Songs Of Ipswich Town F.C.
Cherry Red Records CD GAFFER 32 CD compilation album
Terry Butcher
February 2001
Highbury Anthems โ 18 Gooner Classics
Cherry Red Records CD GAFFER45 CD compilation album
The only Cockney Rebel
March 2001
Everything Went Pop!
Meller Welle Produkte MEL 32 CD compilation album
Pass, shoot & score / All my resolutions
SOME REVIEWS OF CLIVE BAKER SET FIRE TO ME
Action Replay
A brilliant new CD featuring the classic East Fife 4 Forfar 5 - the musical equivalent of watching Fantasy Football League.
Mail On Sunday
The best ever moment of the now solid marriage between football and pop comes courtesy of Halftime Oranges whose LP Clive Baker Set Fire To Me is a work of comic genius.
Brown*Star
The HTOs, in the bold tradition of Serious Drinking, I Ludicrous and Half Man Half Biscuit, give us a series of jangly vignettes on various themes from the beautiful game.
React
Cool breezy pop with words about football. What more could anyone ask for? The song titles are great, the tunes infectious.
Totally Wired
A whole album full of jangly pop songs all about football. The childlike nostalgia of 'Single Leather Football' is touching and there are some witty lyrics.
Total Football
The music is all limp guitars and happy tunes. Sigh. The lyrics have a surreal quality.
Lowestoft Journal
The album contains 15 short and snappy tracks of bright and breezy indie pop with a very laid back groove making it more than listenable. The lyrics are witty, sharp and instantly understandable to any fan. Equally worth checking out for indie fans and footy fans alike, the boys done good with this album.
No Way Referee
All nice and breezy pop that jangles from the terrace that is the turntable. Go buy it.
Stagedive
Beautiful la-di-dah pop tunes about all things football including a neat Charlie George tribute. Musically Sarah like, comically genius. Boyish humour, loveable laddish stuff.
Dominik Diamond, BBC Radio Five
Grant Madden is the greatest lyricist in this country. Forget Oasis, Blur and anyone like that.
Daily Star
Halftime Oranges ultra-brilliant debut CD has 15 tracks, and just like Justin Fashanu, all the songs have a football bent. This little bobby-dazzler features the unforgettable classic East Fife 4 Forfar 5.
Melody Maker
It's quite literally all about football. It's almost viciously fey. It starts with a paean to Terry Butcher to the tune of 'She Drives Me Crazy' by FYC. It sometimes hits the halcyon heights of Jilted John's 'True Love Stories'. It criminally abbreviates the brilliant title of 'The Only Cockney Rebel Who Ever Meant A Thing To Me Was Charlie George'. It's nasty to Ryan Giggs. It matters little but it means a lot. Quite extraordinary.
Blaster!
A gem of an album that makes me jump around the room in a fit of euphoria. The Oranges follow in the Norfolk tradition of The Farmer's Boys, Higsons and Serious Drinking. This edition's must have.
The Side
Probably the best record we've ever reviewed. If you buy only one record this century, make sure it's this one.
The Onion Bag
Very light-hearted, they sound a bit like The Housemartins mucking about.
Cry Wolf
The perfect soundtrack to Paul Whitehouse's ex-Manager soccer pundit on The Fast Show. Upbeat and clever, with an indie jangle and slightly twee feel.
Round And Round
A walk down the path to Dreamy-Indie-Pop-Land.
Highbury High
Funny but wistful in a style best described as a cross between The Smiths and The Beautiful South.
The Barber's Pole
The Halftime Oranges are breaking new ground in football related songs. Don't miss the revolution.
E.P.
Fifteen Housemartins-style pop ditties with catchy choruses and hilarious lyrics. It's definitely the album for you if Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch is your life story. The songs are full of cute hooks and it's brilliantly packaged.
Philosophy Football
Prepare to swoon along to the jingly-jangly sound of indie-pop meets terrace chant.
Organ
Indie pop with a football theme. The music is very lightweight 80's jangly indie pop - kind of a Wedding Present/Pullover thing.
Away From The Numbers
Ideal listening for the summer months, to get you in the right mood for the forthcoming season. Definitely recommended.
Wide
The music is innocent pop tunes, the kind that were in vogue in 1986, the sentiments are very real, the kind that are in vogue nowadays.
SOME REVIEWS OF ROTTERDAMNATION
The Abbey Rabbit
Encompasses influences as diverse as the jangling guitars of the Housemartins, the thoughtful ballads of The Beautiful South (without being quite as insipid) to the rye humour of Half Man Half Biscuit and the sharp insight of Difford and Tilbrook. The perfect post-match antidote to the righteous self-pontificating of David Mellor on Six-O-Six.
Four Four Two
The genuinely witty songs and the innate chirpiness of it all wins you over after a couple of listens.
Total Football
Comfortably the most surreal album I've ever listened to, this is distinctly alternative, football-obsessed, bubblegum pop. A bit like The Lightning Seeds, if the Broudie bunch only wrote songs about Panini stickers and Six Point Christmases.
Scotland On Sunday
A collection of poignant little vignettes about football's emotional repercussions that are painfully comic, comically painful. The music is more Pat Nevin than Vinny Jones, but you're too busy laughing at the words to mind.
The Observer
Football flavoured without being Chas and Dave, glory, glory, up the Spurs. This is far more subtle and a degree of concentration is required to pick up the theme of each number. The cleverly written vocals carry some Pulp-ish mannerisms and on occasions a tinge of The Beautiful South.
Match
The lyrics are brilliant. 'Vinny Jones', 'Panini' and 'Theme From Orange' are modern footy classics.
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Halftime Oranges Lyrics
To view the lyrics for a particular track, select it from the track list above, or search for it.