Another News of the Weird-type story:
A song parodying Zinedine Zidane’s head-butt in the World Cup final has rocketed to the top of the French music charts.
"Coup de Boule," or the "Head-Butt," pokes fun at Zidane for ramming his head into the chest of Italy defender Marco Materazzi during the World Cup final on July 9. Italy won the match on penalty kicks.
Lyrics warn listeners to "Watch out: it’s the head-butt dance," while a chorus of "Zidane, he hit him" plays repetitively over an upbeat African tune. "We lost the World Cup but we still laughed a lot," the song says. "Trezeguet didn’t play. Barthez didn’t stop anything. The sponsors are all upset." David Trezeguet missed a penalty in the shootout, and Fabien Barthez was the goalkeeper who didn’t stop any of Italy’s penalties.
Two French producers from La Plage records composed the song in 30 minutes after watching Zidane’s outburst from their studio. Nine days later, the record had sold 60,000 copies in France and reached the top spot in the French music charts, according to Warner Music spokesman Guillaume Crisafulli.
Warner is working on an English-language version — in response to aggressive demands from English-language media. As a cell-phone ring, the "Head-Butt" song has been downloaded 110,000 times online and is wildly popular in Japan, Crisafulli said. Spanish and Italian versions of the song already exist.
The World Cup incident stunned and appalled viewers worldwide and marked a brutal end to Zidane’s stellar soccer career. But the infamous head-butt also quickly became the butt of Internet jokes, online games and parody videos.
Zidane was given a red card in extra time for the foul. Even though he was retired, FIFA handed him a three-match ban and a fine of 7,500 Swiss francs (US$6,000; euro4,750). He agreed to serve the suspension by doing community service with children.
Wanna hear the song? Click here! (it’s not very good, but that’s not the point now, is it?)