One-Four-Seven

Album: released as a single (1982)
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Songfacts®:

  • The World Snooker Championship was initiated in 1927 and won by the legendary Joe Davis, who would go on to win it a further fourteen times retiring unbeaten. Though Joe Davis, his brother Fred, and their contemporaries did much to popularize the game and to raise its standards, it was not until the arrival on the scene of the Hurricane that snooker took off in Britain and eventually the world.

    Alexander Gordon Higgins was born at Belfast, Northern Ireland on March 19, 1949. It has often been said that proficiency at snooker is the sign of a misspent youth; Higgins picked up a cue aged eleven, and in 1972 became the then youngest World Professional Snooker Champion ever when he beat John Spencer in the final. He would win the title again ten years later, arguably his finest ever victory due especially to his personal circumstances, but there are those who would argue that but for his greatest opponent, himself, he could have won it every year in between.

    Higgins earned the name Hurricane because of the way he would rush around the table and the speed with which he would make breaks. He was unarguably one of the most naturally gifted players ever to pick up a cue. An inveterate smoker and drinker, he died from cancer of the throat in July 2010.
  • Written by Mike Sammes and Al Swain, "One-Four-Seven" is credited to Alex "Hurricane" Higgins; it was released by Cambar Productions for Solid Records Ltd. In spite of Higgins being at the height of both his powers and his popularity, it failed to chart, which is probably not too surprising considering how badly he sings; "Snooker Loopy," it ain't!
  • The title "One-Four-Seven" is derived from the maximum break; the highest break possible is actually 155 but this is contingent on the opponent playing a foul stroke and leaving a free ball, so is exceedingly rare. The song describes making a 147. In spite of his flair for the game, Alex Higgins never made a 147 in professional competition; the first Higgins to do this was the unrelated John Higgins, in January 2000. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3

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