Jim Miekle (1 Viewer)

Lamptey

Well-Known Member
dont know who/where this guy is, but would be have been good to wheel him out for a rendition tonight!
 

TheHellion

New Member
He wrote performed a song called "Stand Up For The Sky Blues" in our top flight days. It was once played when the team walked onto the pitch. It's a pretty decent tune as football songs go too!
 
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Deleted member 4439

Guest
I used to work alongside Jim in the mid-80s - we had each climbed to corp ladder to become van drivers for a company called Empire Stores. Lovely guy, bald as a coot at a young age as I remember. He played keyboards for King before they became, er, 'famous' - he was always reflecting that it could have been him on TOTP.

Emabrassingly, I still have that single.

nb: is Jim Miekle
 
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Lamptey

Well-Known Member
I used to work alongside Jim in the mid-80s - we had each climbed to corp ladder to become van drivers for a company called Empire Stores. Lovely guy, bald as a coot at a young age as I remember. He played keyboards for King before they became, er, 'famous' - he was always reflecting that it could have been him on TOTP.

Emabrassingly, I still have that single.

nb: is Jim Miekle
Is he still around?
 
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Deleted member 4439

Guest
No idea I'm afraid. We were ships in the night, really. We worked alongside each other for about 18 months from '86, trading curses about the company, together with some choices words about the Supervisor. As I now recall, we both climbed further up the corp ladder to work on the track at Ryton, which had a history of turning good men bad. Have just tried doing a google search - not found anything yet.
 
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Deleted member 4439

Guest
Actually, you could well be right - though wouldn't have thought he would have been much more than a late teenager when working at CE, given what I presumed to be his age.

Some old b******* on here, isn't there?
 

cloughie

Well-Known Member
I'm sure he was slightly younger than me (57) and we were both apprentices.

Got to be the same Jim as i'm 55, 56 this year he used to write songs and play keyboard , seen him play a few times, but the picture of him is similar to how i remember him but slimmer.
 
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Deleted member 4439

Guest
Lamptey. True, the i and the e are transposed, but it's a fairly uncommon name - everything else fits into place, so it would seem that it is indeed Jim, I'm afraid.
 

Lamptey

Well-Known Member
Not good if true, song I associate with first going up to the city... I would have loved him to come out and sing it again before a game.
 

TheHellion

New Member
Not good if true, song I associate with first going up to the city... I would have loved him to come out and sing it again before a game.

It's a great song because it brings back memories of better times, better players. Not many football songs can be labelled as any good. This one can. And if the guy in that link is the Jim Miekele who wrote this song, then that is very sad news.

I know times have changed since it was used, we may not be up there at the top anymore, but I really wish the club would use it as the walk-out music again.
 

Lamptey

Well-Known Member
It's a great song because it brings back memories of better times, better players. Not many football songs can be labelled as any good. This one can. And if the guy in that link is the Jim Miekele who wrote this song, then that is very sad news.

I know times have changed since it was used, we may not be up there at the top anymore, but I really wish the club would use it as the walk-out music again.

Definately would be good if someone could confirm about Jim.....
 

StevieM

Well-Known Member
Many moons ago I had the pleasure of playing in several bands with Jim, and we were good drinking mates.
He was an intelligent, popular guy and a true Sky Blue.
Sadly Jim passed away about eighteen months ago after a brave fight against cancer.
He was a prolific song writer which led to him securing a music publishing deal in the late eighties/early nineties.
He also set up Planet Studios at the rear of Kwik Fit on Foleshill Rd.
It was from here that he along with fellow musical collaborator Tom Lowry, that the pair produced several hit records for many Indian Bhangra music legends and also worked with many local bands(usually helping them to get some record company recognition along the way).
Jim used to be a season ticket holder in the Sky Blue stand and his ex-wife used to work for the club in the offices.
He always wanted to come up with something for the team to run out to and "Stand up for the Sky Blues" was conceived after hearing that bloody awful BA Robertson song that we used for a short while.
Typically the club used the song without paying him a bean (nothing new there then), I think he thought that he might get his season ticket renewed at least...as if!
It was Jim Twyneham - the deep voiced announcer at HFR that first used the song, I think it was played on a cassette tape which Jim gave to him during one of our drinking sessions at the old Colin Campbell in town.
I don't know if any copies are still knocking around but the tape was available to buy at the old club shop in Thackhall Street at the time.
I would think that Jim Twyneham would have a copy in his collection and he still goes to games at the Ricoh.
I will Facebook him to see if he could get it played before the end of the season maybe?
 
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Deleted member 4439

Guest
Stevie

It's good to have that information, thank you.

For what's it's worth, I have a copy of the cassette, complete with Match Day Mix and International Mix (smile).
 

Lamptey

Well-Known Member
Stevie,thanks for this....another little example of the greedy ccfc. I reckon Jim might be able to pull some strings, spoke to him a couple of times this season. Thanks again.
 

Joy Division

Well-Known Member
I have this on CD somewhere I'm sure, think the single was backed by that 'sky blue army' dance track complete with Rob Gurney commentary of Hucks goal vs Man U and the Moldovan winner vs Villa away. Certainly brings back really fond memories for myself of the good times in the late 90's.

Its a shame to hear that the songwriter has passed away, as the song was used so often before matches it would have been nice for the club to recognise his passing.
 

TheRoyalScam

Well-Known Member
Great posts on this thread, some of which bring tears to my eyes.

I was lucky and fortunate enough to play with Jim in the house band when he ran The Rose on Lockhurst Lane - Sunday lunch jam sessions with players like Anthony Harty and Ted Duggan. He had a distinctive and powerful voice, as well as being a very versatile KB player and songwriter.

'Stand Up For The Sky Blues' was indeed recorded at Planet Studios where I worked as a sound engineer/producer/session player in the 90s with Tom Lowry and Jim Lantsbery - I can remember helping with the production a little bit, but it really was Jim's baby - he certainly put many hours into it.

As has already been stated, there never was much in the way of payment from CCFC for stuff like this - a couple of matchday tickets here and there - it was the Richardson era!

Such a talented man, with a wicked sense of humour.

R.I.P. Jim
 

Scott_Meikle87

New Member
Reading this thread has really made my day and I want to say thank you to all that have posted. I'm really happy that people still remember the song and I'm glad it brings back memories of better times for CCFC!!! But I am even happier knowing that people remember my dad and have a lot of nice things to say about him.

He really was a big city fan and with my mum, Debbie, working in the pools office at Highfield Road he was able to get the song played to people involved with running the club. I'm glad whoever made the decisions on things like that enjoyed it and decided to go with it.
I have thought myself about asking for the song to be used for the players to walk out to at some point, but since we don't have a home at the moment that idea is on hold. Maybe next year hey???

Thanks again for the kind words.
 

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