"Don't Mention the World Cup", also titled "Don't Mention the War", is a 2006 song written by Dean Whitbread and Ashley Slater and performed by The First Eleven with

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

. Released to coincide with the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

, it was intended to dissuade supporters of the

England national football team The England national football team have represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by the Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Eng ...

from referring to the Second World War while in Germany for the tournament.

History

The song references Cleese's ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a dysfunctional fictional ...

'' character Basil Fawlty's line in "

The Germans "The Germans" is the sixth episode of the first series of the British television sitcom '' Fawlty Towers''. Written by John Cleese and Connie Booth and directed by John Howard Davies, it was first broadcast on BBC2 on 24 October 1975. The ...

" episode: "Don't mention the war. I did but I think I got away with it". Cleese released this song as a way to try and change English feelings towards Germans and to move people away from associating Germans with the Second World War. Cleese recorded his lines for the song as Basil Fawlty. German authorities supported the song as a way to dissuade supporters of the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

national football teams from displaying

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

symbols or gestures during the World Cup. The song was also intended to get England fans to refrain from using rude words towards Germans. The song also made an allusion to comedian Stan Boardman's German jokes with the line, "They bombed our chip shops". Boardman, who also wrote a World Cup song, " Stan's World Cup Song", stated that he felt Cleese's use of his joke was "very cheeky" and didn't believe that Cleese had a chip shop in his hometown of

Weston-Super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

Reception

"Don't Mention the World Cup" was released on 12 June 2006; however, it failed to chart in the UK Singles Charts. The song was also criticised in '' 3:AM Magazine'', which gave it two stars and stated that "Cleese's flat delivery is Fawlty". Nonetheless, despite lack of UK chart success, press and television coverage was generally favourable. The song was featured on ITV News in a segment on football violence.

References

External links

The official music video
{{authority control England national football team songs 2006 songs Fawlty Towers England at the 2006 FIFA World Cup England–Germany football rivalry