Bluebirds Flying High is a song written by British singer-songwriter

James Fox James William Fox (born William Fox; 19 May 1939) is an English actor known for his work in film and television. Fox's career began in the 1960s through roles in films such as '' The Servant'' and ''Performance''. He is also known for his role ...

. It was recorded as

Cardiff City F.C. Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

's official song for the

2008 FA Cup Final The 2008 FA Cup final was an association football match between Cardiff City and Portsmouth held at Wembley Stadium, London, on 17 May 2008. The final was the showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the 2007–08 Footb ...

. It was released as a single in May 2008 and charted at a peak position of number 15 in the UK Singles Chart. The song features backing vocals from members of the Cardiff City football squad.

Background

Each year the teams that reach the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official attendance of 89,472 ...

traditionally produce an official song to commemorate the occasion, featuring vocals from the players. James Fox, a fan of Cardiff City since 1983 when he was a

ball boy Ball boys and ball girls, also known as ball kids, are individuals, usually human youths, but sometimes dogs, who retrieve and supply balls for players or officials in sports such as association football, American football, bandy, cricket, tenn ...

during a league match at

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a association football, football stadium in the Leckwith, Cardiff, Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovatio ...

, wrote the song following Cardiff's third round victory against non-league side

Chasetown Chasetown is a village in the town of Burntwood in Staffordshire, England. It is split between the civil parishes of Burntwood and Hammerwich. History Chasetown developed in the mid 19th century as a coal mining village. At first the village ...

in January 2008. He said in an interview with the Western Mail that "

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

didn't take long to write. Being a Cardiff fan, it kind of wrote itself. I’ve always wanted to play for Cardiff but that was never going to happen so every year I just thought if they get to have a Cup song, if they get that far, I’ve got to be prepared." He later commented "As a record, it doesn’t break any new ground. It’s just a catchy tune that hopefully the supporters will latch on to."

Track listing

#"Bluebirds Flying High" - 3:46 #"Bluebirds Flying High" (karaoke version) - 3:46 #Road to Wembley multimedia content

Promotion

Fox performed the song for the first time at the

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in Cardiff in front of competition winners as well as Cardiff chairman

Peter Ridsdale Peter Ridsdale (born 11 March 1952) is an English businessman who is a director at Preston North End. He was until December 2011 the Chairman of Football Operations at Plymouth Argyle. Ridsdale was previously the chairman of Leeds United, Barns ...

Reception

Popularity

The song was popular amongst the staff of Cardiff City. Manager Dave Jones said "It is a really catchy song and it’s good that James is a big fan, as he has really captured the mood and the energy – the enthusiasm is superb. The lads loved the song and everyone is behind it. I’m sure it will be a massive success." Cardiff chairman

called it a "great song".

Critical reception

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its initial launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television pro ...

's Alex Fletcher awarded the song 2/5, writing "the odds of anybody outside of Cardiff City FC remembering this tune in a year's time is roughly equal to your local pub team's chances of winning the Champions' League."

Charts

The song charted at number 15 in the UK Singles Chart on its first week of release. It reached number one in the official UK indie singles chart and the Welsh singles chart.

References

{{authority control 2008 singles Cardiff City F.C. Association football songs and chants Songs written by Mads Hauge 2008 songs UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles