Put 'Em Under Pressure


"Put 'Em Under Pressure" was the official song to the Republic of Ireland national football team's 1990 FIFA World Cup campaign in Italy.
Produced by U2's Larry Mullen, it featured an intro by Moya Brennan. The song was created by Larry Mullen Jnr, Denis Woods, John Donnelly. Engineered by John Grimes who was assisted by Colin O’Mahony. It also featured Davy Spillane on the Uilleann pipes. The Jack Charlton soundbites were captured by Colin O’Mahony from reels of archived radio interviews.
The chorus was by performed by some U2 fans that were hanging about outside studio 3 on Windmill Lane in Dublin. There was an attempt to record the team but it was a disaster. Somebody had the great idea of using beer to loosen up the team's vocal cords.
Anthony "Anto" Drennan is credited with playing lead guitar on the single. He actually recorded it in a single take which is very unusual.
It is often assumed that the guitar intro was a straight sampling of "Dearg Doom" by the Horslips; however this is not the case. The Horslips song "Dearg Doom", was itself based on the traditional Irish tune, O' Neill's March, and which refers to Hugh O'Neill and his part in The Nine Year War.
Thanks to this song the title became a catchphrase of then manager Jack Charlton, whose soundbites were sampled for the verse; the chorus was a combination of the familiar football chant "Olé Olé Olé" and a reworking of "Ally's Tartan Army", the unofficial theme tune for Scotland in the 1978 FIFA World Cup, and for 13 weeks the song was at number one in the Irish Singles Chart.
The song is regularly played in celebration at Irish homes matches. It was used as the opening theme for the compilation episode of BBC Switch series Chartjackers. In 2011, RTÉ One aired a quiz show titled Put 'Em Under Pressure, presented by Gráinne Seoige.
The phrase Put 'Em Under Pressure is to this day used in relation to the Ireland national football team.