Three Lions '98 - Karaoke Version

This song was written for the 1996 European soccer championship held in England. The England supporters took the song to their hearts, singing it at all their team's games - it climbed to #1 in the UK and a new national anthem was created. The song brackets verses of frustration and regret over England soccer not winning any major tournament since 1966 with a lusty music hall chorus.

Asked to make a record for Euro 1996, Ian Broudie, the songwriter and lead vocalist of The Lightning Seeds, was incredulous. He says in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, "I would never have brought a football single myself and I certainly didn't want to do one of those cheerleading records. Being a fan is about losing and, if we did it, I wanted to write it from a fan's point of view. The song has passed into folklore. Every time there's a big match, you can guarantee that some newspaper will be quoting from the song in their headlines."

Broudie asked the comedians and well known football fans David Baddiel and Frank Skinner to sing on the record and help with the words. The end result was the first football single suggesting the team might not win, and was therefore more realistic.