A Song For Vermaelen

I've been thinking it over, and it's very difficult to find words that rhyme with "Vermaelen". So far, I've got Stalin and marlin. I refuse to consider colloquialisms that drop the "g", such as darlin', penny-farthin', or super-stylin'. That's just sloppy. After all, if we can't be syntactically correct with football songs, then what's the point of proper English?

Then again, the great songs often don't use the player's name in rhyme. Think of the Vieira song, or the Bergkamp one. In both cases, gooners just tacked a great player's name onto a nice sounding melody. Simple, not particularly witty, but very charming and very, very effective.

Maybe it's the player that makes the song memorable. The Bergkamp song's been around for years, but the reason we're still singing about a Bergkamp wonderland is because he really did make Highbury a wonderland. Vieira's song encapsulated the whole French-African-Arsenal connection to a tee; to think that Patrick Vieira grew up in Senegal and ended up wearing shorts in winter and freezing his nuts off in north London is something that sends chills down your spine.

Maybe this is a bit premature. Maybe Vermaelen has to create his own slice of Arsenal history before he can get a song. You know, we don't really know what he's going to do yet. We don't know what kind of future he'll have. Will it be pretty? Will it be rich?

We'll have to wait and see.

You know, this is the fifth straight post about Thomas Vermaelen. I'm getting pretty sick of the guy, but there's nothing else to blog about. C'mon Arsene, sign another player. I'm bored.