Three Lions

Themes

The lyrics, unlike those of most football songs, speaks not of unbounded optimism for victory, but instead talk of how, ever since 1966 and the one success of the English football team, every tournament has ended in dashed hopes.^[4] However, the repeated failures have not dampened the feeling that England could again reach those heights ("Three lions on a shirt / Jules Rimet still gleaming / Thirty years of hurt / never stopped me dreaming").^[5]

The song's intro included samples of pessimism from football pundits:

• "I think it's bad news for the English game." (Alan Hansen)
• "We're not creative enough; we're not positive enough." (Trevor Brooking)
• "We'll go on getting bad results." (Jimmy Hill)

Despite the failures of the past, each tournament is greeted with fresh hopes that this might be the year they do it again: "I know that was then, but it could be again", and the song's chorus proclaimed that "It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming, football's coming home" which refers, like the tournament's slogan, "Football comes home", to the invention of the modern game in England.^[6]

The song makes reference to English footballing heroes and famous moments of the past, specifically:

• Bobby Moore – "That tackle by Moore" – his tackling of Brazilian striker Jairzinho in the 1970 World Cup
• Gary Lineker – "When Lineker scored" – his equalising goal against West Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi-final
• Bobby Charlton – "Bobby belting the ball" – his long-range goal against Mexico in the 1966 World Cup
• Nobby Stiles – "And Nobby dancing" – his victory jig with the trophy in hand after the 1966 World Cup final

According to Frank Skinner's autobiography, the original lyrics submitted to the FA included the line "Butcher ready for war" instead of "Bobby belting the ball". The former was a reference to a notorious World Cup qualifier against Sweden in 1989, where defender Terry Butcher gave a typically committed performance, despite his head bleeding profusely for much of the match. The FA requested that this line be changed, so as to avoid suggestions of hooliganism imagery. The "ready for war" motif was later used in the 1998 version of the song (see below), attributed to Paul Ince.

The commentary of the end of the song contrasts that of the song's opening with positive lines which suggest that England could win a major football championship:

• "England have done it in the last minute of extra time!" (John Motson's call of David Platt's last-second goal against Belgium in the 1990 World Cup)
• "What a save! Gordon Banks!" (David Coleman, commentating Banks's split-second save from Pelé's header in the 1970 World Cup)
• "Good old England, England that couldn't play football."
• "England have got it in the bag." (Harry Carpenter)

The crowd noise in the intro of the track is in fact Brøndby fans recorded by Ian Broudie at Anfield during a UEFA Cup tie in October 1995.^[7]

On the CD of The Beautiful Game – Official Album of Euro 96, there are two tracks which are seemingly recordings of Baddiel, Skinner and Broudie trying to formulate what the song's lyrics should be when in the process of originally writing it. Track one is called "Three Lions Version One", where there are such lyrics as "Three Lions on a shirt / Just near where it says Umbro / The white one shows the dirt / The grey one not as much so...". And "Three Lions Version Two", where they discuss writing the song in parody of Bruce Forsyth after when Baddiel suggests writing about the Beautiful Game, to which Skinner suggests is Play Your Cards Right. Lyrics include (chorus) "Nothing for a pair / Dollies do your dealing..." in reference to Forsyth's usual catchphrases.

Success

The Britpop phenomenon was at its peak in 1996, and the Lightning Seeds were one of its leading lights, so their involvement gave the song very wide appeal. It reached number one in the singles chart, and as England progressed to the semi-finals, stadiums around the country echoed to the sound of fans singing the song after English victories over Scotland, the Netherlands and Spain. It was so popular, in fact, that even other teams liked it. England faced Germany in the semi-finals, and Jürgen Klinsmann said later that the Germans were singing the song themselves on the way to the stadium, and the German team and the crowd sang the song as they paraded the trophy on the Römer balcony in Frankfurt. The single as a result even made #16 in the German singles chart.^[8] The song was later sung by Germany fans during their team's first appearance at the new Wembley in 2007^[9] and is still heard frequently on German radio stations.

The original version of the song still receives regular airplay in England around the time of a major football tournament. It has been adopted as a terrace chant and is occasionally sung by fans at England international matches today. When it was sung by England fans at the 2006 World Cup after England took the lead against Paraguay, commentator John Motson remarked, "As football songs go, Three Lions is certainly the best". The song has sold 1.6 million copies in the UK as of June 2018.^[10]

"Three Lions" re-entered the charts at number 10 (as of 13 June) during the World Cup in 2010. A total of five different versions were present in the top 100 at the time.

The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart again in 2018 following England reaching the semi-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup,^[11] with the line "it's coming home" featuring heavily on social media.^[12][13] In doing so, it became the first song in history to have four non-consecutive stints at number one in the UK.^[11] By the following week, following England's semi-final defeat by Croatia, and elimination from the tournament, the single had fallen to number 97, setting a record for the fastest ever descent from the top of the charts.^[14]

Original track listing

1. "Three Lions" – 3:44
2. "Three Lions" (Jules Rimet extended mix) – 6:14
3. "Three Lions" (karaoke version) – 3:45

1998 video

The video to the 1998 version of the song portrays a match between a group of English fans (including Baddiel, Skinner and Lightning Seeds' singer Ian Broudie) and their German equivalents, most of whom have the name "Kuntz" printed on the back of their football shirts (except for one, who instead has "Klinsmann"). German player Stefan Kuntz had played an instrumental part in Germany's semi-final victory over England at Wembley in 1996, but his name is similar to the disparaging vulgarity "cunts"; the segment was often cut by broadcasters. Baddiel and Skinner had previously mocked Kuntz' name on their Fantasy Football television programme.

The video also featured cameo appearances from Geoff Hurst (who also made a cameo in the music video for the original song in 1996), John Regis, Robbie Williams and Chris Evans.

The scene from the video when Frank Skinner dips his arm into custard while grasping a melon, so it bears a comical resemblance to the World Cup trophy, was shown on German public TV station Das Erste a few days before the final was to be played.

Track listing

CD single

1. "Three Lions" (2010 version) – 4:17
2. "Three Lions" (original version) – 3:36

Digital download

1. "Three Lions" (2010 version) – 4:17
2. "Three Lions" (2010 edit) – 3:37

Asda CD single

1. "Three Lions" (2010 version) – 4:17
2. "Three Lions" (2010 Asda choir version) – 4:16