Some notable features of being an England football fan are always a dissatisfaction with the present mixed with a constant harping back to some long lost 'golden age' when things were much better. This generally begins and ends in 1966, with every following year being a search for a sign that this World Cup win wasn't just a glorious fluke. Which means that your average England fan is well versed in disappointment too. But still they hope. Thirty years on, 1996 wasn't even a World Cup year - what it was though was European Championship year, and as England were hosting then a song was inevitable. But if football is a funny old game then football songs are funnier still; you don't need to be an England to run the risk of copping some pants down hubris if the team song enjoys a level of success and/or longevity that's out of proportion to the team's progress in the tournament. Your writer can remember the pre-tournament optimism of Scotland's 1978 World Cup song ("And we'll really shake them up, when we win the World Cup, 'cos Scotland are the greatest football team"), not sounding quite so reliable a prediction when heard on the radio following match reports of them being stuffed by the mighty footballing nations of Iran and Peru (who they couldn't beat even with the filled full of illegal drugs and soon to be banned Willie Johnston on the team).
'Three Lions' neatly nutmeg's this danger with its starting out with the sheepish "Everyone seems to know the score, they've seen it all before. They just know, they're so sure, that England's gonna throw it away" before harping back to that 'golden age' as a way of inspiring the team and fans of the present to make a break from "thirty years of hurt". And when it comes, the shift from pessimism to optimism, of honesty in your country's shortcomings but nonetheless having a pride in "three lions on a shirt" that's not a boast of arrogance built on jingoistic tubthumping is an absolute delight. As host nation too, the main "football's coming home" refrain, if not metaphorically accurate (in terms of trophies and kudos returning to their rightful place) was at least literally true and would remain so regardless of how well England performed. Clever.
It's not just a football song mind; just as 'World In Motion' freeze framed a blissed out, summer of love, 'Three Lions' comes with its own extra, moment capturing dimension through slotting neatly into the contemporary Britpop canon courtesy of the presence of the Lightning Seeds. And with'new lad' poster boy Frank Skinner on board as singer/writer and marrying it with a Britsport theme then 'Three Lions' is a zeitgeist capturing bullseye that couldn't fail. And yet even though it scores a goal, I can't help but think the ball crosses the line with the helping hand of a goalie's fumble rather than through a well drilled kick to the top left hand corner.
The Lightning Seeds would never be first choice conduit for a gutsy singalong and their fey indie backing, coupled with Baddiel and Skinner's non vocal vocals give 'Three Lions' the feel of something half inflated when it should bounce like a fully pumped match ball. They'd put that right with the 1998 re-recording, but the samples of the fan chants of "football's coming home" on that single amply display where the true power and pathos inherent in this lies; there can be few greater honours for any sports song than for it to be adopted by the terraces, and if there's a better football song knocking around then I've yet to hear it. The lad's done good.
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