‘Hey Now Georgie’
A great new single release is ‘Hey Now Georgie’ by Liverpool band The Mighty George Farmer.
The song – and the name of the band – is inspired by George Farmer, one of the Toffees’ first true stars, and the club’s first ever professional player in 1885.
We are honoured to say that Everton FC Heritage Society played a key part in the research and in the production of the video.
The Research
Jamie Yates carried out an incredible amount of research to put the story of George’s life together. He also led the project to have his grave restored and rededicated at Anfield Cemetery, and in so doing, brought together several members of George’s family who had never met before, some coming from as far afield as Canada.
Click here to read more about George Farmer and the grave restoration project
The Video
The video was filmed, directed and cut by society member Lewis Royden, who has already made his name with numerous films about Everton, all available on this website. He also put together the film biography montage about Seamus Coleman, shown in the capain’s presence at our Dixie Dean Memorial Award evening.
Throughout the video there are references and locations significant to the life of George Farmer, such as his home at No.1 Gertrude Road close to Anfield, Everton’s home ground at the time; Stanley Park where he also played; and the streets of the Dingle where many of his fans walked from, to witness him play according to the newspaper reports of the day. He had a great Welsh following due to his Oswestry roots, and the Dingle was well known for its Welsh population.
It was also brilliant to feature an actual decendant of George – his great-great grandson John Murray – who can be seen at the start of the video reading the newspaper, and again playing football on Stanley Park.
With thanks to the following in the making of the video;
The National Waterways Museum
Mersey Ferries
Bleak House pub, Dingle
The research of Jamie Yates
Video filmed, directed and edited by Lewis Royden; second camera – Kayleigh Nickson
The Song and the Band
According to band frontman Martin Sullivan,
“The story of The Mighty George Farmer started around 2018 and ultimately led to the release of Hey Now Georgie on 16 August 2024. Five years into the journey; it’s been incredible and the support for the project immense!
George Farmer, (alongside George Dobson), is known as the first player to sign a professional contract with Everton when he made the move from Oswestry White Star in 1885. Back then, playing professionally was illegal, so you could say George was an outlier in his field! In any case, he has largely been forgotten by fans, and overshadowed by many more Everton heroes, but thanks to the band name and now this song, Hey Now Georgie, his legend is reborn and lives on.
But it might not have ever been possible if not for the meeting of a certain @mrjamieyates@thewanderingsofanevertonnerd of the @evertonfcheritagesociety and the band’s songwriter @martink.sullivan both lifelong Evertonians. You see, Jamie had, for the duration of the TMGF project, been researching and collating George Farmer’s life and times, and in doing so was easily able to inspire the historic and accurate lyrical content of the song!
Jamie, almost single-handedly, secured George’s unmarked grave in Anfield Cemetery, restored by @mackiememorials and returned to the hands of long lost family since reconnected through his tenacious work and skilful genealogy. There are so many levels to this incredible story!
By 2023, I had a version of the song penned, and at Vulcan Studios (opposite Bramley Moore), Sam Park wrote the signature drums. Naturally then the illustrious Forge Studios in George’s hometown of Oswestry, Shropshire was selected to make the record; engineered by Al Unsworth.
Bassman Carl Winrow added the driving low-end, and the track was off to long standing mixing engineer for the band Tom Corfield, of Liverpool outfit Bright Town, before award-winning industry stalwart Mike Cave was once again called upon to master the final mix.
Thanks to everyone involved in the making of the track, giving the family a huge sense of pride and becoming another chapter in the musical and footballing culture of this city 
It was mine, then it was ours and now it’s everyone’s! Up the Toffees! 
Martin Sullivan (TMGF)
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Gallery
Photographs
Martin Sullivan / The Mighty George Farmer
Lewis Royden
Jamie Yates
Mike Royden
