Russell Baillie: Wrong song for rugby singalong

Opinion

Now I know Right Here, Right Now isn't the official Rugby World Cup song.

Apparently some leather-lunged singer is still going to be bellowing World in Union at us.

And should the various international factions get a chance, the likes of Swing Low Sweet Chariot, Waltzing Matilda and Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau ("Land of My Fathers") will be competing with Why Does Love Do This to Me? or Loyal or - when it catches on again after its use in the movie Boy - Poi E in the stands of the nation.

But Jesus ... Jones? Their Right Here, Right Now originally came out in 1991. A significant year, and not just because it was after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall which "inspired" the song's lyrics about the world waking up from history.

No, because 1991 was also the last time New Zealand was the holder of the Rugby World Cup, which we won in 1987 and then lost four years later.

It was pretty much the last time anyone heard of Jesus Jones too, a British rock band who, like Pop Will Eat Itself, EMF and a few others, figured that playing rock guitars over hip-hop beats was the way to fleeting chart domination and perpetual royalties from jingles for products needing bland homilies set to pop music that was modern, but not too modern.

Nowadays, Jesus Jones are one of those phases in rock that again proves a theory that nothing dates faster than someone's old idea of what the future sounds or looks like.

The feelers, the local rock institution who have covered the song for the ticket-selling jingle, also emerged in the early 90s powered by the period's other great phase, grunge. All of which might say something about the demographic the RWC is hoping to attract: guys who haven't bought a record in a while.

You can't blame the band for taking the cover band gig when the RWC ad men came calling. Though you might wonder if one of their own songs, like Playground Battle or Weak and the Wounded, might have been more accurate for the great ticket lolly scramble the campaign is supporting.

John Key, who once promoted himself on a DVD with a rip-off of a Coldplay song so is more than qualified to judge, has said it's probably good that an international tune has been chosen.

But apart from its already high mileage as a jingle, Right Here, Right Now has other drawbacks.

It's catchy, but not a good singalong. There's a dreadfully high falsetto note at the end of the chorus - on that "wake up from history" bit - which would require quite a bit of lifting in the lineout for anyone who's not a boy soprano to reach.

It's also too fast to be sung over the vast expanses of a stadium. By the time the cheap seats have reached the first chorus, the sound delay should mean the corporate seats are already somewhere into the bridge.

It's got too many words, too, for communal delivery - though, granted, they could be modified to suit.

All together now: "Right here, right now/ There is no place in this ground for me/Right here, right now/ Watching the World Cup on my TV."