Frank Skinner and David Baddiel are to release a festive reworking of their classic 1996 football anthem Three Lions, ahead of the World Cup. The pair said that although their famous refrain “football’s coming home” had become obsolete following victory for the England women’s team earlier this year, they would give it “one more go for the blokes”.
The pair discussed the release of the track, which is accompanied by a festive video, on The One Show on Thursday ahead of the tournament getting under way in Qatar on Sunday.
“We could not resist the fact that the World Cup was at Christmas, and people have said in the past that football songs are a little bit tacky, and obviously Christmas songs are a bit tacky,” Skinner said. “In maths two negatives make a positive, so we think there’s so much tacky in this that it’s going to be a classic.”
Baddiel added: “The Lionesses brought it home, football came home and some would say that’s the end of the song, stop singing it. But we decided to give it one more go on the basis that the blokes have not brought it home.”
A preview clip was shown, with Skinner and Baddiel dressed in Christmas jumpers, superimposed next to their younger selves and decorating a tree with Lioness baubles, while singing.
“The blokes seem cursed whatever they try and I think I know why, they’re just jinxed in July,” they sing. “But it’s December… three lions on a sleigh. With she-lions inspiration, Santa says, ‘Let’s play’.”
Three Lions was first released by Skinner, Baddiel and Lightning Seeds frontman Ian Broudie in 1996, becoming a staple song at every major international football competition since. England’s first World Cup match takes place on Monday against Iran.
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