Lily Allen’s unseen role in iconic Vindaloo football song revealed by Blur legend Alex James

Vindaloo is one of the best known England anthems of all time, and one of its featured artists might surprise you.

Released ahead of the 1998 World Cup and performed by the band ‘Fat Les’, the song is a hilarious parody of football chants which makes reference to the popular spicy curry.

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An instant hit nearly 30 years ago, soaring to No.2 in the UK charts, Vindaloo has remained a firm favourite when major tournaments roll around ever since.

But while plenty of Three Lions fans will be chanting it in the coming weeks, some might struggle to name any of the names behind tune.

Produced under the band name Fat Les, the music trio consists of British actor Keith Allen, and bassists Guy Pratt and Alex James.

With Pratt and James are famous for their roles in iconic bands Pink Floyd and Blur, Allen is perhaps best known for being the father of chart-topping singer Lily Allen.

In fact, somewhere behind the quintessentially English terrace-style lyrics, a teenage Lily can be heard providing backing vocals on the hit.

The making of an anthem

With World Cup fever building ahead of this summer’s North American showpiece, James joined talkSPORT to discuss his role in a song which will soon be blaring out over speakers once again.

And the bassist revealed how the song actually turned out to be the first time Lily featured on a hit song, before shooting to fame herself in the 2000s.

James told Max Rushden and Charlie Baker: “The high backing vocals – the descant parts on the choruses – it’s Lily Allen.

“She was at junior school. She was bunking off school at the studio. She was like ‘What are you doing?’.

‘[We told her]: ‘You better try singing this’, [and we realised]: ‘Oh actually she’s quite good.”

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As for the song itself, James was full of praise for Allen’s father, Keith, for producing one of England’s most-loved football songs.

Having been pipped to N.1 spot only by David Baddiel and Frank Skinner’s Three Lions remake in 1998, and both regularly shoot up the charts during major tournament season.

James continued: “I mean you’ve got to hand it to Keith – he directed a great video as well. 

“But who knew 30 years later – would we still be singing it? It’s crazy really.

“And it’s funny I’ve barely ever heard the record on the radio. It’s a song that’s completely grown through being sung at football matches, on terraces.

“It’s crazy – the same songs come around every Christmas and there’s a major football tournament every two years, and if England do well everybody wants to sing football songs. 

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“There’s a handful that have become evergreens – Three Lions is never going away, I’m afraid Vindaloo is here to stay as well. I’m sorry.”

As for the magic behind Vindaloo, James insisted simplicity is the secret.

He explained: “I think Vindaloo was kind of like the musical equivalent of a leftovers recipe. Often you come up with the best stuff when you’re cooking with leftovers. 

“It’s a terrace drumbeat with a bunch of stuff that people used to sing on the terraces anyway with just that one-note chorus ‘We’re gonna score one more than you’

“I don’t think you can ever shoot too low in pop music, you know.”