David Baddiel, Frank Skinner & The Lightning Seeds have released a Christmas remake of their iconic football anthem ‘Three Lions’ ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.
The song is a favourite among England fans and was originally released ahead of Euro 96, before being tweaked for the World Cup two years later.
The anthem has now got another makeover, but this time it has taken on a Christmas twist in honour of the winter World Cup in Qatar.
“At last it’s between me and Mariah Carey for who really is the voice of Christmas,” said Baddiel.
The new lyrics include the lines: “Three Lions on a sleigh, with She-Lion’s Inspiration, Santa says let’s play, the Christmas tree formation”.
In the music video Sir Geoff Hurst, who scored a hat-trick in the 1966 World Cup final as England were crowned champions, swaps his England kit for a Santa suit.
Lioness heroes Jess Carter and Beth England are also involved and recreate their celebratory dance after England won Euro 2022 this summer.
“We just had to do it. Christmas World Cup songs are not like buses. If we’d let this opportunity pull away, it would have been a very long wait for the next one,” Skinner said.
‘Three Lions’ is the only song to have ever become UK number one on four separate occasions with the same artists: twice in 1996 when it was originally released, for three straight weeks in 1998 and again in 2018 when it made chart history by moving up from number 24 to number one during the World Cup.
During the Euros two years ago, the song spent four weeks in the top ten and on the final day of that tournament had over three million Spotify streams.
