In honour of the England Men’s team making the Football World Cup Semi-Finals for only the fourth time ever, this month’s playlist is all about football songs.
I haven’t been watching the games – mainly because they’re mostly on late at night or early in the morning UK time, but also because England tend to play better when I don’t watch. So hopefully the fact that I won’t be watching tonight’s game may mean that England qualify for only their second World Cup Final ever, and the first in 60 years.
Which brings me onto this month’s playlist. As usual, you can listen along on Spotify.
- “Three Lions” by Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds. It’s been thirty years since thirty years of hurt. This was the official song for Euro 96, when England hosted the UEFA European Football Championship two years after failing to qualify for the 1994 World Cup (which was also in the USA). That year, England turned a corner and made it to the semi-finals, and have since qualified for every subsequent World Cup. The 1998 re-release was better in my view but this is the original.
- “(How Does It Feel to Be) On Top of the World” by England United. Controversially, the 1998 re-release of Three Lions beat this song, the official England anthem for the 1998 World Cup in France, to number one in the singles chart. ‘England United’ consisted of Echo & The Bunnymen, Ocean Colour Scene, Space and the Spice Girls, making it an interesting snapshot of late 1990s British pop music.
- “Carnaval de Paris” by Dario G. Another 1998 World Cup song, this time featuring instruments from each country playing in the tournament. Including bagpipes, as this was one of the few years when Scotland qualified. Also re-released in 2002, but without the bagpipes. It’s worth watching the Top of the Pops performance.
- “Vindaloo” by Fat Les. We’re still in 1998, heading to Waterloo with my mum, my dad and my gran and a bucket of vindaloo. A ridiculous song whose video satirises the video for The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony. Fat Les was a collaboration between Alex James from Blur, the actor Keith Allen (father to Lily Allen) and the artist Damien Hirst. Two years later, they would record a version of Jerusalem which was the official England anthem for Euro 2000.
- “Wavin’ Flag” by K’Naan. This wasn’t the official song for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but was instead Coca-Cola’s promotional song. The official song was by Shakira, who is not from Africa, whereas K’Naan hails from Somalia and so it probably should have been the official song.
- “Eat My Goal” by Collapsed Lung. Collapsed Lung were a bit of a one-hit wonder; they did record other songs, but this is the song most people would know them for. A former member of Collapsed Lung now performs as Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer, who we would have seen in Leeds had it not been for me being in hospital.
- “Sven Sven Sven” by Bell & Spurling. Sven-Göran Eriksson was the first England manager who wasn’t English and was a rather controversial hiring at the time. However, he led England through a reasonably good period in the early 2000s, including two World Cups in 2002 and 2006, and a 5-1 win over Germany in 2001. This song honoured that rather historic win.
- “We’re on the Ball” by Ant & Dec. We’re back in 2002 and this was England’s official song for that year’s World Cup. Ant & Dec found fame as actors on the Children’s BBC series Byker Grove, but then had a music career in the mid 1990s. This, however, came out once they were well established as TV presenters.
- “Southgate You’re The One (Football’s Coming Home Again)” by Atomic Kitten. “Whole Again” was one of Atomic Kitten’s better known singles from 2001; 20 years later, it was re-released for Euro 2020 – which, thanks to the pandemic, was delayed to 2021. This new version with changed lyrics honours Gareth Southgate, who managed England for 8 years between 2016 and 2024, including the last time England reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2018. Maybe I shouldn’t mention his missed penalty at Euro 96.
- “All Together Now” by The Farm. A song about the Christmas Day Truce in the First World War, where both sides ended up playing football against each other, and later used by Sky Sports for their football coverage in the 2000s.
