Jim Noir - Eanie Meany Video

Jim Noir
Eanie Meany
Video

Hot on the heels of the irresistible My Patch, Jim Noir is set to release Eanie Meany, the song which, by the time of its release, will have earned a curious type of ubiquity as that song off the adidas ad. If you haven't seen it yet, you soon will. The sportswear giant's biggest ever ad campaign, it's being screened extensively in the run-up to the World Cup. It features two cheeky young chaps playing street football with an impossible line-up of superstar players including Beckham, Duff, Lampard, Viera and Zidane. Skills courtesy of the world's greatest footballers, music courtesy of our Jim and his beautifully simple lyrics: "If you don't give my football back I'm gonna get my dad on you/I only kicked it over the fence and broke a silly gnome or two."

Believe it or not, Eanie Meany was Jim's first ever attempt at writing a pop song, back when he was living with ma and pa Noir in Davyhulme, Manchester. "I looked out of me bedroom window at the garden I used to kick the football around in and out it came," says Jim.

Backing up chief striker Eanie Meany on this unbeatable singles package are two never-heard-before treats from the Noir treasure chest. "They're songs that have been around for a while that didn't get used on the album, Tower Of Love, or the EPs" says Jim. "But they're not rubbish!"

They certainly aren't – That's Not Her finds Jim in minimalist mode, a pastoral, flutey, finger-picky number that's the equal and opposite reaction to the bounding, bouncy A-side. Ordinary Man finds Jim putting himself in the position of, well, an ordinary man. "I do an ordinary job in an ordinary way, working ordinary hours for ordinary pay," he sings, over musical backing that's anything but ordinary. Of course, he's lying: Jim's a popstar. He has exciting adventures and wears a bowler hat.

Jim's recent adventures have mostly been of the touring kind, although he insists that he and his band (who he affectionately refers to as 'the Man Choir') are very well behaved. Future sojourns will take them to the US, including a slot at the legendary Lollapallooza festival, and around the UK again, with dates in May and June. After that, Jim's keen to get back in the studio and record a bigger single than Eanie Meany, "so I don't end up like Flat Eric," he says. "I've been writing a lot of '70s prog epics, so we'll see what happens with those."