The Song Remains in the Game

Soccer Digest, Feb, 2001 by Brent Dicrescenzo

It took 12 years for England to return to the Cup, in Spain, and the squad returned to the studio to promise their fans, "This Time We'll Get It Right." Again England qualified from its group, this time to face Germany and Spain in the tournament's second phase. But England drew twice, failing to score a goal. Germany advanced. England flew home. The song went to #2 in the charts.

In the two decades since, official and unofficial English national team songs have continued to outpace the team itself. Factory Records pioneers New Order had one of the biggest hits of its career with "World In Motion" in 1990, most famous for a terrible attempt at MCing by England's John Barnes. In 1996, the "Fantasy Football" comedy team Baddiel and Skinner, along with the Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie, composed the now-definitive England supporter's song, "Three Lions" for the European Championship, which England hosted that year. Two years later, actor Keith Allen, artist Damien Hirst, and Blur bassist Alex James, under the name Fat Les, produced the rousing "Vindaloo." Its simple, humble boast of "We're gonna score one more than you" is now as permanent a fixture at an English international game as second-guessing the manager's team selection.

Since 1970 domestic squads have cut records with surprising frequency and chart success. In 1977 Liverpool won the League Championship, the European Cup, and eventually reached the FA Cup Finals. They released the "We Can Do It" EP and subsequently lost. The song fared no better, only reaching #15. Tottenham Hotspur and Coventry City clashed in the Finals in 1987. Both sides released a record, "Hot Shot Tottenham!" and "Go For It", respectively. City won the game, but Tottenham took home the consolation of seeing their track demolish City's in the charts, #18 to #61. In the past three decades, 40 Premiership squads have recorded songs.

Not to be excluded, the Scottish national squad wheeled out Rod Stewart in '78 for "Ole Ola" and again in '96 for "Purple Heather." Stewart belted and sweated out his swagger backed with a roomful of midfielders, forwards, defenders, and goalies. In 1998, due to the waning popularity of Stewart, Del Amitri took over duties as Scotland's official World Cup soundtrackers. More adventurously, Scots author Irvine Welsh ("Trainspotting") and band Primal Scream combined in 1996 on a song that pondered whether a fan is better off getting a ticket for the World Cup and having to cut back on the day's alcohol intake or stay in the pub to watch the match. Unsurprisingly it was not chosen as the Scottish national's team official song. It did, however, reach the top 20 in the singles chart.

British bands also incorporate soccer into their music as well, from Lennon's obscure "toe-jam football" reference in "Come Together" to Robbie Williams' recent album cover, which depicts the bratty superstar multiplied into an entire victorious soccer team.

Socialist folk icon Billy Bragg has incorporated the sport three times. "Goalhanger" compared a boring salary-wage slouch to a cherry-picking soccer player. In "God's Footballer" the West Ham devotee constructed the character of a saintly football star. The crowd's cheers are even described in the line, "While the crowd sings `Rock of Ages' the worship of false idols tempts him not." "Moving the Goalposts" merely used the football metaphor for Bragg's notions of people settling for too little.