Crystal Palace’s third-ever FA Cup Final is just days away now – and ahead of the showpiece event at Wembley, Palace for Life patron Ben Bailey Smith (Doc Brown) has released a new song entitled ‘OMG (One More Game).’
The multi-talented creative and life-long Palace fan wrote, recorded, mixed, edited and shot the video for his new tune at Selhurst Park all within the space – incredibly – of a single day.
The song – produced by Tony Bones The Producer and performed by Bailey Smith – can be streamed on Spotify, YouTube (embedded below) – and more digital platforms now, ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup Final against Manchester City at Wembley Stadium.
Palace have enjoyed a long association with Final-themed songs, after the 1990 squad covered and performed Glad All Over on primetime television, while Bailey Smith also masterminded an unofficial 2016 Final track, Glad All Over Again.
OMG (One More Game) is another celebration of what it has meant to follow the Eagles in this season’s competition – and Palace’s hopes for Saturday’s game.
“I love the competition so dearly,” Bailey Smith told cpfc.co.uk. “There's so much nostalgia attached to it. When I was a kid there were always FA Cup Final songs – often sort of cheesy, but fun and lovable.
“I always had a temptation to do one if we ever got there, and obviously we did in 2016. The conduit for that was the producer of the track – he was a Palace fan, he got in contact with me, and that's how that came about.
“That also sort of started my relationship with the club, actually, because they played it at Wembley and Steve Parish invited me – but being a fan I already had a ticket! I’ve been close to the club ever since.
“This one really was not gonna happen, because first of all, I didn’t want to jinx us – last time I did it, we lost! Secondly, everybody that I bumped into at the semi-final, every single Palace fan I met was like: ‘you’ve gotta do a song now, we’ve beaten Aston Villa’ – so that was another turn-off! I was like, ‘everyone wants it, so I'm not gonna do it!’”
But out of nowhere, Bailey Smith felt that draw again.
Whilst preparing some demos for a job with Craig David, the Palace man was listening to some Garage tracks in his inbox from another producer he’d worked with – and: “One of them I just really thought would fit as a storytelling rap…
"I just had a bit of downtime last Wednesday, and I thought: ‘oh, you know what, screw it, I'll have a go.’
“I had a few lyrics bouncing around my head, particularly the Jean-Philippe Mateta line – I had that in my head for ages – and I was like: ‘let’s just start with that and see where it goes.’”
I wanted it to be more real, and more in tune with the heart of Palace.
—Doc Brown
Where it went was OMG (One More Game), which recognises that Palace – although underdogs heading into the Final against Pep Guardiola’s City – can beat anyone on their day.
“I wanted it to be a bit more sort of melancholy,” Bailey Smith explains. “You know, not so much ‘hey, we're gonna win!’ because I'm not one hundred percent sure if we are or not! I wanted it to be more real, and more in tune with the heart of Palace.
“It started sort of writing itself, and by the time I got to the end, I thought it was really good! But I didn’t have any time – I couldn’t just put it out, I needed time to mix it, and visuals…
"At first, I thought I’d get it mixed remotely, and then just video myself in my office performing it – although that would’ve been a bit rubbish!”
Where else other to perform it than SE25? One quick email to Palace for Life Foundation – whom he had been collaborating with on a separate project – and Bailey Smith laughed: “Within hours, I was in the changing rooms at Selhurst Park, shooting this video, directing it on the hoof!
“I brought all my old shirts with me, had the idea of doing that sort of jump cut thing, where I have different shirts on in different seats. And it all just came together – we shot the whole thing in a couple of hours, and we edited it in the offices of Palace for Life straight afterwards, and released it on Instagram that evening!
“So it was written, recorded, mixed, edited, shot, visuals edited and released all within 24 hours. I'm fairly proud of it!”
One listen, and we were hooked – but a song lives and dies on its popular reception, so what’s the response been like from the Palace community?
“Insane!” Bailey Smith says – that man Mateta himself agrees, having commented star-struck emojis over the rapper’s most recent post (above).
“It's been the biggest reaction I've had on any of the little things I've done for years, I'd say, so it’s really nice to have that connection.
“The reaction has been so positive, and I think it's because I've not been too bullish. I think it's a bit more Palace just to be like: ‘hey, you know what? You never know what’ll happen. There’s always a chance. There’s always hope.’
“But good lord, if we win it... I don't even want to think about it, really, because if we win, like, I just don't know I’d do with myself. It’s just too much, it’s just such a mad thing to think about!
“The frustrating thing is, whatever happens on Saturday, it’s going to be really emotional – and I’ve just got to gear myself up for that.
“The one guarantee we’ve all got – the absolute guarantee – is that it’s going to be emotional.
"It’s going to be intensely, intensely emotional.”
Crystal Palace v Manchester City