We Have Your Back: Lynnie Carson on the Scottish Women’s World Cup Anthem

Ahead of the Scotland Women’s National Football Team’s match against England this Sunday we invited singer-songwriter Lynnie Carson to tell us how her song We Have Your Back  in support of the squad came about and where you can get hold of it.

I’m a life-long fan of football, both the women’s and men’s game, and I travelled to the Netherlands in 2017 to watch Scotland’s Women play their first major tournament at the Euros.  I had written a song for my friends and I to learn just for a laugh, and they said to me that if we qualified for the next world cup I had to write and release a single. So last November I sat down to do just that. I wanted to write something that was catchy and anthemic and captured the spirit of both the tartan army and this amazing squad of players. I referenced Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ and Arcade Fire’s ‘Wake Up’ when working with producer Ross Hamilton of Rocket Science studio and I think you can hear those influences in the big chorus and drums.

I knew that making the song a collaboration would only make it stronger so I sat down and thought about some of the Glasgow singers that I had been influenced by who might be interested in getting involved. As a gay woman myself I have always followed Horse so she was my first port of call. As soon as she was onboard it all fell into place from there. I took a chance sending her a message on FB and her reply was that if she liked the song she would happily be involved and would give it her all. Which she absolutely did. Her distinctive voice is instantly recognizable in the track and having her involved helped to elevate my own performance. It was great to watch someone, who has toured with Tina Turner and has all this experience, work in the studio. Literally 2 takes and boom! Done! Then add to that the powerhouse mix of Monica Queen of Thrum and Gospel singer Unoma Okudo and singer-songwriters Chiara Berardelli, Laura Hill & Nicole Campbell and the whole thing just came alive. I wanted the chorus to sound like a chant from the terraces and singing it in unison with these incredible singers gave me goosebumps. I hope that feeling is infectious for those who hear the finished song.

In the video we were joined by cast members of female comedy troupe Witsherface. The group was started by Mo Carr of River City & Still Game fame who felt there were not enough female comedy roles being written. Her answer to that was to create an environment where women writers and actors could fill that gap themselves. I am a member of Witsherface and have submitted sketches for use in their live shows.

I am a massive football fan and have made lifelong friends from the game. We still play every week together at Glasgow’s Toryglen and will all be travelling to France together to cheer on Shelley Kerr’s side. It was incredible to think that the final warm up game at Hampden on 28th smashed the previous attendance record by almost 3 times with a record 18, 555 people cheering our players on. It was a truly inspiring spectacle and the send off the players deserved.

I started playing football in the back garden practising keepy-uppies and played at lunch time in school with the boys. The majority of boys didn’t care I was a girl, they only cared that I had a good left foot! I find that is generally the case, most men support the female game…most…Then I joined Davie Provan’s girls 5-a-side at Greenock Sports Centre on a Friday night before helping to form and playing for Morton Ladies Football Team. We had some really negative experiences at that time and I am glad to say things have moved on from then. However what we were up against was nothing compared with previous generations, just ask Rose Reilly and Elsie Cook!

Things are definitely changing for the better, there are more female pundits on TV which serves to help the cause but there is still a long way to go. The main reason for writing and recording this song was to raise awareness of our team’s achievements so far and to try and galvanize the country and really get it behind the team, the way it would were it the men’s tournament. I think that England are much better at celebrating their female players and have been giving lots of hype to the Lionesses in the build up, but even they are not exempt from criticism and online abuse. The German team have also released a video online highlighting how much their achievements have been ignored by the German press and revealing that they were awarded a tea set as a prize for bringing home their first Euro Championship Trophy – the first of 8! It seems draconian but matches the tag line that states “We play for a country that doesn’t know our names”. That sentiment was something that really resonated with me, so I have included the names of some of our key players in my song because I want Scotland to know the names of these incredible athletes if not before the World Cup but by the time it is over.

Women’s football is the fastest growing sport in the world. My 12 year old self would have been blown away by the bus loads of youngsters that were at Hampden to cheer on our women’s national side. It seems like only yesterday we were getting thrown off pitches and changing in our cars in order to play competitively. But times have moved fast and although there are always detractors (never read the online comments) the old guard are going to have to accept that women’s football is here to stay; more than that, it’s on the rise. So instead of being negative my message is, why not give it a go? Support our team in Scotland’s first World Cup campaign since France ’98. What have you got to lose? You might even find you enjoy yourself if you view it with an open heart and an open mind.

We Have Your Back is out now on all digital platforms. itunes.apple.com/gb/album/id1460390556?app=itunes … Also on Google Play, Amazon MP3, Deezer, Omnifone, Amazon Music Unlimited, TIDAL, Groove, WiMP, Pandora Settlement, Xbox Music, Canal Digital, Rdio, 24-7 (Juke), WOM, MediaNet, Rdio Settlement.

Download from itunes and help us get Scotland’s anthem in the Official UK Charts in time for the team heading to France.