Into the Valley

"Into the Valley" was a 1979 single by The Skids, taken off their "Scared to Dance" album, and is their best known song, appearing on a number of punk rock and Scottish music compilation albums. It reached number 10 in the UK Singles Chart for week ending 17 March 1979. It was written by Richard Jobson and Stuart Adamson.

"Into the Valley" is still used as a theme song for fans of Dunfermline Athletic F.C. in the Scottish First Division and Charlton Athletic F.C. of the English Football League Championship, whose stadium is aptly named The Valley) It was also used by Bradford City in the premiership years whose stadium is named Valley Parade.

The lyrics are notoriously unintelligible thanks to a number of factors. This has been sent up in at least one television advertisement [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAsmf1LGcpA] . The chorus, often misquoted, is actually "Ahoy, Ahoy, Land, Sea and Sky".

Richard Jobson said, in an interview in 2007, that the lyrics were about the recruitment of Scottish youths into the Army, who then served in Northern Ireland [ [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/review.cfm?id=538222007 Scotland on Sunday ] ] Local legend still persists that the valley mentioned is a reference to the village of High Valleyfield, near the Skid's hometown of Dunfermline.

The song was covered by street punk band the Street Dogs on their 2008 album "State of Grace".

References