Chelsea Dagger

"Chelsea Dagger"
Single by The Fratellis
from the album Costello Music
Released	28 August 2006
Format	Vinyl record (8"), CD
Recorded	2006
Genre	Indie rock, garage rock revival
Length	3:35
Label	Fallout Records
Writer(s)	Jon Fratelli
The Fratellis singles chronology
"Henrietta" (2006) "Chelsea Dagger" (2006) "Whistle for the Choir" (2006)

"Chelsea Dagger" is a song by The Fratellis and their second single. It was released on 28 August 2006. It is taken from their debut album Costello Music, which was released in the United Kingdom on 11 September 2006. It is supposed to be named after both Jon Fratelli's wife Heather, a burlesque dancer whose stage name – Chelsea – he borrowed for the song, and also as a play on the name of pop singer Britney Spears.^[1]

The song became their first significant chart hit, peaking at number five in the UK Singles Chart, therefore marking their first UK Top 5 hit as well as their highest charting single to date. This surprised the band, who weren't going to release the song as they thought it might be too risqué to do well. It lasted 29 weeks in the UK Top 100. It eventually reached number two in the Netherlands.

This song was Number 77 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.^[2] It was voted Number 59 on Australian Radio Triple J's National Hottest 100 2007 countdown on 26 January 2008.

Characterised by its anthemic, scat chorus, it has been adopted on many football terraces as a crowd "favourite" (see below).

It was produced by Tony Hoffer, the highly-acclaimed American record producer famous for his work with the likes of Beck, The Kooks and Supergrass.

Cultural references

The song appears in the 2007 racing video game Burnout Dominator, it also in the trailers for the films Run, Fat Boy, Run, Shrek The Third, Knocked Up, The Game Plan, and most prominently The Dilemma as well as the television commercials for Balls of Fury, Open Season, Youth in Revolt, Dinner For Schmucks and Amstel Brewery. It is also used for the supermarket chain Vons. It serves as the theme song for the 2006 Serious Request project on 3FM (The Netherlands). The song was featured in the films "Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" and "She's Out of My League", as well as the NBC comedy "Chuck".^[3]

Sport

Chelsea Dagger has been played over stadium sound systems before and after many football matches, and has frequently been played at other sporting events as well.

Outside of football, it is most prominently associated with the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks. The song is played at the United Center after every Blackhawks goal and win. Chelsea Dagger was embraced as a theme song by the Blackhawks fans during the 2008-2009 season. Fans change the lyric "Bring your sister over here, let her dance with me just for the hell of it" to "bring your goalie over here, let us score on him just for the hell of it!"^[4] The song gained even more attention as the Blackhawks' goal song during the 2009-2010 season, which culminated in the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1961.^[5]

Track listing

CD Single, 12" "Lady-Shaped" Vinyl (Limited Edition: 2000 copies)
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Chelsea Dagger"
2.	"Dirty Barry Stole the Bluebird"

8" Coloured Vinyl
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Chelsea Dagger"
2.	"The Pimp"

References

1. ^ http://www.last.fm/music/The+Fratellis/_/Chelsea+Dagger
2. ^ No byline (11 December 2007)"The 100 Best Songs of 2007" Rolling Stone Retrieved 21 December 2007^{[dead link]}
3. ^ http://chuck-nbc.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Music
4. ^ Sports Arena Songs. Austin Town Hall, 2010-07-09
5. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nhl/news/story?id=5227496

External links

• "Chelsea Dagger" Official music video on YouTube