Why Swedish-based musician has written a song about Foundation of Hearts

Hearts fans don't have too much to sing about right now after only one win in nine games. However, one Swedish-based Jambo has recorded his own song about his idols.

Sweden-based musician Neil Grant. Pic: Marco Kremer

Musician Neil Grant’s ode is dedicated to Foundation of Hearts and the collective effort of thousands of fans in saving the Edinburgh club. FoH influenced Ann Budge’s takeover in 2014 to pull Hearts out of administration, backed by cash from 8000 supporters.

Grant, 41, has recorded tunes for several lower-league Scottish clubs but this is his first involvement with the team he was brought up supporting by his Edinburgh-based family. His song was played at Tynecastle Park when Hibs visited in October and he is honoured to have fans hear his work.

“I always liked the idea of combining both loves of music and football together, but it took me until about 2015 to actually put it into practice,” said the songwriter, who lives in Gothenburg with his girlfriend and daughter.

“Just for fun, I decided to write a song for Ross County. I could see their stadium floodlights from my house as I moved from Edinburgh to the Black Isle as a child. The hope was that they might play it at a match.

“In the end, it got played for the entire season. Encouraged by this, I started writing songs for smaller league teams which became equally successful. Then one day, I decided the time was right to write a song for the club I truly supported.

“I knew one thing right from the off – The Hearts Song from the 1950s by Hector Nicol is irreplaceable and for very good reasons. It will always be our true anthem. However, I wanted to write an alternative song which would be a nice bonus to it.

“The song-lyrics are actually quite dark in topic yet ultimately uplifting. It’s in tribute to the Foundation of Hearts. I wanted to communicate that going through the hard times is what truly makes the Hearts supporter, just as much as experiencing the glory does. It was very important for me to write something with honesty and deep meaning when it came to this song, given that it’s for the team I’ve loved since being a wee boy.

“After spreading the song around as much as I possibly could to key areas, the first respondent was none other than 1970s Hearts and Scotland legend Donald Ford. He fully endorsed the track, describing it as “absolutely brilliant”.

“After such encouraging feedback, the Tynecastle tannoy announcer was soon in touch confirming that the track would make its debut at the Edinburgh derby in front of 20,000 fans on October 31.

“Even the Foundation of Hearts have indicated that the track is to be embraced as a fitting anthem for the organisation. It’s truly a dream come true for the team I love to play this track. Of course, I’m not naive enough to expect every single person to like it, but at least they can be assured it comes from the heart.”