During the summer of 2023 when Scotland’s chances of qualifying for EURO 24 were looking good, Tartan Army fan, John Pryde, 47 from South Queensferry, had a dream of writing a song.
After qualification was guaranteed, John set out to make this a reality. He worked with his friend, Norman Lamont to create the first demo in his home recording studio. John’s aspiration was to create a song that would become Scotland’s EURO 2024 anthem.
When John was at Oktoberfest for his birthday last year in Princess Street, he heard the concept of the German oompah style music and thought "that's it, that's the sound I need".
After lots of research, John found the instruments to make that kind of sound. He also wanted to pay tribute to Andy Cameron’s 1978 song – and create something that’ll hopefully stand the test of time as an anthem. It’s these vibes that have created the feel of how the song has been written and composed.
The project took on its own momentum and soon John was meeting the team at Heartbeat Recording Studio where extra magic was sprinkled over the song.
Local performing and recording artist, Colin Chisholm stepped forward to record the vocals. Colin is no stranger to football anthems and has previously recorded ‘The Hearts Song’ (Hearts Hearts Glorious Hearts) and ‘Hibs Heroes’ (Hibee Hibernian).
David Paton, another local professional musician from the band Pilot who has recorded chart toppers such as 'January' and 'Magic', contributed to the song providing his expertise on bass guitar. Pipes and drums were added to the mix with the help of Cockenzie and Port Seton RBL and Preston Pans RBL.
The song also features a clip of an Ally McCoist commentary from an ITV Sport interview, Ally McCoist getting excited about Scotland qualifying. Ally McCoist and ITV Sport kindly gave their permission to use the clip in the song – thank you.
Do you want to learn the words? Here are verses 1, 2 and 3, along with the chorus for “We’re On Our Way”. Enjoy!
