Sheffield music: 13 times Sheffield has featured in song lyrics and titles, including Arctic Monkeys and Pulp
By Robert Cumber
Published 24th Mar 2024, 05:30 BST
Sheffield has gifted the world some brilliant music, from the likes of The Human League, the Arctic Monkeys and Pulp.
Joe Elliott, lead singer of one of the Steel City’s most famous exports, Def Leppard, once reportedly said Sheffield was a ‘great place with great people’ but that 'there’s nothing in Sheffield to write songs about’.
While he was right on the first two counts, he’s been proved wrong countless times on that final assertion, with many of Sheffield’s most successful acts taking inspiration from their home city in their lyrics.
Sheffield has also been a muse for many artists not lucky enough to hail from among its seven hills, who have still chosen to reference it in their music, from Elton John to Stormzy.
How many of these songs namechecking Sheffield or its streets and suburbs have you heard, and are there any we’ve missed off our list that you’d recommend?
Sheffield has also been a muse for many artists not lucky enough to hail from among its seven hills, who have still chosen to reference it in their music, from Elton John to Stormzy.
9. The Sheffield Grinder - Tony Capstick
Tony Capstick was a comedian, actor, musician and broadcaster, who was a long-running presenter on BBC Radio Sheffield and a member of the cast of Last of the Summer Wine. The Sheffield Grinder tells of the hardships of working in the city's steel industry and includes the lines: "Every working day we are breathing dust and steel/And a broken stone can give us a wound that will not heal." Photo: Sheffield Newspapers Ltd
The Everly Pregnant Brothers are a Sheffield institution and one of their biggest hits is about long-lost city centre landmark the Hole in the Road. Oyl Int Road, sung to the tune of the Waterboys' The Whole of the Moon, takes listeners of a certain age on a trip down memory lane, with lines like: "Well you walk down from Fargate/With the wind in your hair/You come down escalators/Cause they didn't have no stairs." The lyrics also reminisce about the Hole in the Road's famous fish tank, though the band are not too misty eyed, acknowledging 'them fish didn't look nice'. Photo: National World
Pulp's lyrics draw heavily on Jarvis Cocker's formative years in Sheffield and the city is referenced in songs like Babies, which mentions Stanhope Road, in Intake, and Wickerman, which takes listeners on a musical tour of the lead singer's native city, from The Leadmill and The Moor to Broomhall. But for sheer number of Sheffield place names you can't beat the 8m32s opus Sheffield: Sex City, which sees the band at their seedily seductive best. It opens with a long list of neighbourhoods read out in a breathy whisper, including Pitsmoor, Wincobanks and Ecclesall. Photo: Yui Mok
The famous Watford fan's fondness for glitz and glamour makes him the last person you'd associate with the grit required of a Sheffield steelworker. But he did sing of life in the foundry in Can I Put You On, from the 1971 album Friends. In what is one of his lesser known efforts, Elton sings: "I work for the foundry for a penny and a half a day/Like a blind street musician I never see those who pay/It's dirty work in Birmingham/Better deal for a Sheffield man/If he can rivet then his kids can buy/Candy from the candy man." Photo: Kevin Winter