From stag-do drag video to the World Cup – the bizarre rise of Scotland's other national anthem
You can only imagine the Andy Considine stag-do group chat each time the Yes Sir, I Can Boogie resurrection reaches a new height.
It is already bizarre enough that a Scotland anthem has been born from a video of the former Aberdeen defender dressed in drag dancing to the 1970s Baccara hit.
But the sight of Fenway Park, one of sport’s most iconic arenas, bouncing to the song 3,000 miles away from home was another pinch-me moment.
So just how has a makeshift music video, arranged by a gang of boozed-up mates on a stag weekend over a decade ago, become the soundtrack of a summer in Boston?
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From Aberdeen head-wetting to five-hour Shoreditch shoot
The roots of this tale start on the day Considine – who won three caps for Scotland but played almost 600 times for Aberdeen – celebrated the birth of his eldest son with close friends and family.
Known as ‘wetting the baby’s head’ in the UK, his cousins Victor and Liam spent the entire day out in Aberdeen randomly belting out Baccara’s Yes Sir, I Can Boogie in every karaoke bar they set foot in.
It wasn’t until further down the line that Considine would realise the significance of the song, when the same group reunited for his stag do in London.
Considine was given a drag outfit to wear on the Saturday of that weekend. A drinking game that had him “blootered” by late morning followed, before he was notified by his best man that they would be shooting a music video.
A taxi was booked to Shoreditch, where a huge studio and make-up rooms awaited the former centre-back and his entourage to record their own version of the disco hit, which spent a week at the top of the UK charts in 1977.
“I got dolled up… my dad and uncles did too,” he revealed on Open Goal in 2021. “As the hours went by, it just got more ridiculous.”
It took five of those “ridiculous” hours to finish the video, which was then revealed during a best man speech at Considine’s wedding.
“It didn’t go down well…” he said.
The birth – and rise – of unofficial Scotland anthem
Five years on, the nation was gripped by post-match footage of the Scotland team bouncing to the beat of Baccara in Serbia after sealing qualification for Euro 2020.
Considine was an unused substitute on that famous night in Belgrade but was seen celebrating wildly with dressing-room DJ Kieran Tierney and the rest of the squad in a legendary video posted on Scotland’s social media platforms.
The Tartan Army were unable to travel for the behind-closed-doors play-off amid strict Covid lockdown measures, but the anthem was fresh in the memory when a limited number of supporters were able to attend Euros matches that summer.
The victory and the scenes that followed provided a much-needed lift to the nation and the disco duo, who were blown away by the shock revival.
“With this pandemic, I have been sitting at home and this has uplifted me in a way you cannot imagine,” Mendiola, who died five years ago, told BBC Scotland.
“I will always thank the Scottish team and especially Andy Considine for making me so happy after 43 years.
“I saw all the articles and everyone was calling me. I was delighted. I thanked the Scotland team and spoke with Andy over Instagram. He had such nice words.”
The anthem’s legacy continues, becoming a staple of the Hampden playlist and following the team to Euro 2024 in Germany and to the United States this summer.
The sight of tens of thousands of Scots throwing themselves about to the tune after a first World Cup win in 36 years would have been a surreal one for Considine and the group that dragged him to that Shoreditch studio.
Days later, footage of Boston Red Sox fans joining in during a Tartan Army takeover at Fenway Park took things to a silly new level – and there is time yet to go beyond that.
