Scotland's Football Jukebox: From Top of the Pops to Madison Square Garden

Baccara singer Maria Mendiola was reduced to tears by Scotland adopting 'Yes Sir, I Can Boogie'. And she says she will be emotional again when she cheers on her new favourites at Euro 2020.

With the Scottish FA deciding against bringing out an official anthem for the Euros, Mendiola and Mayte Mateos' hit from 1977 will be the unofficial soundtrack of the Tartan Army.

In previous tournaments the likes of Rod Stewart, Andy Cameron and John Gordon-Sinclair have soared up the UK charts. And BBC Scotland is pressing play on the best and worst of the Tartan Army jukebox.

Top of the Pops bust-ups & bar sessions

Scotland have released their share of belters and duds to accompany their past qualifications.

'Easy, Easy' - released for the 1974 World Cup - served as Scotland's first big football hit in the midst of 'Rollermania'. The track took inspiration from the world-renowned Bay City Rollers, reaching 20 in UK charts.

Many consider Willie Ormond's side's performance at the finals in Germany to be the nation's best, becoming the first team to return home undefeated without lifting the trophy, but it wasn't the straight-forward campaign the soundtrack suggested.

"Easy?" scoffs Off The Ball's Tam Cowan. "You couldn't dream of writing a song like that now. You'd be shot down in flames!"

"It's everything a football song should be," adds radio presenter Cat Harvey. "Overconfident, a little bit threatening and a lot of fun."

One song that performed better than the team was the 1978 World Cup anthem 'Ally's Tartan Army'. The line, "we'll really shake them up when we win the World Cup" wasn't lived up to, though, with Scotland failing to beat both Peru and Iran before being dumped out early.

However, a fifth-placed chart position meant a Top of the Pops appearance for then 38-year-old comedian Andy Cameron, who remembers his father wading in a confrontation with Billy Idol. Think of it as some kind of 1970s celebrity deathmatch...

"Imagine if it really kicked off," Tam Cowan says. "Andy Cameron's da has Billy Idol by the throat and he's screaming for help, looking for haunners from Boney M."

Chick Young reckons 1982 "produced the best football song ever". He is obviously referring to 'We Have a Dream' - Scotland's official anthem for the finals in Spain, which reached number five in the UK charts.

That prompted another Top of the Pops rendition, with former Scotland international goalkeeper Alan Rough remembering a day that featured a lot of singing, swaying and hours at the bar...

"I'll never forget it," he says. "People don't know the set-up of Top of the Pops - you don't just turn up at half past seven. There's a show at half five and half seven.

"We were hanging about and the only place to go was the BBC bar, that was a really bad move with the squad we had. We were so out the game anyone would've worn anything. You can tell why we were all swaying."

Madison Square Garden singalong & airport keepy-uppies

For Euro 1996, Rod Stewart was at it again with 'Purple Heather' - albeit there was nothing remotely football-related in the lyrics.

However, that didn't stop the squad joining Sir Rod on stage at Madison Square Garden for a dance while on a training camp in New York, something former captain Colin Hendry recalls as a "surreal" experience.

"I've done some crazy things in my life, but that was crazy," he says.

"I remember Ally McCoist and wee Billy McKinlay playing the air guitar," adds ex-Scotland midfielder Stuart McCall. "We went on and raised it!"

Two years later, Del Amitri pleaded that the squad 'Don't Come Home Too Soon' - but they were ignored.

Still, the video for the 1998 track - which made it to 15 in the UK charts - was filmed in Prestwick Airport and famously features Hendry breaking his keepy-uppy record.

"I managed to do three," he says. "I think Roberto Carlos did it blindfolded [in the Brazilian version]."

"The video always made me laugh," adds Cat Harvey. "I bet yae Betty fae Troon was raging her flight from Tenerife was postponed half an hour."

Finally, Lynnie Carson recorded 'We Have Your Back' for the Scotland women's team ahead of their 2019 World Cup tilt. But it was unable to spur Shelley Kerr's side beyond the group stages.

'An injection of happiness'

Scotland will be hoping Baccara's unofficial soundtrack can drive them on to reach the knockout stages for the first time, with Mendiola vowing to return to Scotland for the first time since the late 70s to sing it.

The classic disco hit returned to the charts after the Scotland team were filmed dancing to it in the aftermath of their penalty shootout win over Serbia, which took them to their first major finals in 23 years.

"I couldn't believe it in the beginning," Mendiola says. "You're at home with this pandemic, doing nothing because you can't work, then everyone was calling me at once.

"It was like an injection of happiness when everything was so sad. I was like a spring chicken. I was even crying because you feel the emotion."

Long before Scotland's qualification, Aberdeen and Scotland defender Andrew Considine had fans singing the song after starring in a spoof video for his stag do.

Considine dressed in drag and appeared alongside his friends and his father in the professionally-produced video which was played on his wedding day in 2015.

Mendiola - who messaged Considine on Instagram - is a fan of the video.

"I love it," she says. "I contacted him through Instagram to thank him because everything came through him, and he answered me, he's a very nice guy. I will thank him all my life."