AT 2.15pm on Saturday, my guinea pig died. I took this as a bad omen. And yet, as I sat in Frank Skinner’s living room watching England play Sweden I started to experience a strange new feeling. 4 Frank and David's love in during a World Cup as they celebrate Three Lions success It’s been, though, a strange week. Since we beat Colombia, a song that Frank, Ian Broudie and I wrote 22 years ago has become — well — what it was 22 years ago. But this time multiplied by ten. Three Lions expresses vulnerability and uncertainty and the memory of disappointment, but it also channels, through all that, hope. 4 England wins a penalty shoot-out...what is wrong with this picture? Credit: Rex Features This time round, more than ever. When we wrote the song, the refrain “football’s coming home” referred both to the fact the tournament was being held in England, and to the more mystical idea that we might win. But now the song seems to mean only we might win, and as the week went on, and the jubilation rose, yes, we are going to win. Official video for Football's Coming Home by David Baddiel, Franck Skinner and Lightning Seeds (Three Lions) Even as the co-writer of that lyric, that was beginning to worry me. Football, particularly any involving the England team — as the song indeed warns you — is not a game in which you should count your chickens before they’re hatched. Even when we won against Colombia I went for “it’s still just about coming home”. But then the Sweden game started and we scored, twice. 4 Commitment, focus, determination, togetherness...are you beginning to believe? Credit: Getty - Contributor England were not just winning: they weren’t even putting us through the wringer. This has never happened before in my living memory. This was the new feeling, a sense of expectations met. It was like being Germany, but without the sense of entitlement. So now I am daring to hope. Even though some very good teams still lie ahead of us, even though we have got to semi-finals before and been disappointed. 4 Sorry, what's that you say? What's coming home? Credit: Darren Fletcher - The Sun I am daring to hope because I think this is a team marked by joy and newness and youth and Gareth Southgate’s deep emotional intelligence. We have shrugged off, for the moment, the suffocating burdens of our history. MOST READ IN WORLD CUP 2018 WHAT A JEN How old is Jermaine Jenas and what's his net worth? MEDALS 1 CAPS 0 Stars who won World Cup without playing a single game, like Fulham's Areola HORROR ORDEAL Brit gang-rape victims bravely fought off attacker by biting him, say cops RU BEAUTY Who is Ruby Mae and how long has she been with Dele Alli? PRETTY WOMAN Amanda Holden spotted in £85 Forever Unique 'Pretty Woman' dress Cheap as kits Here's where you can get England's 2018 football kit the cheapest Let’s go further, to belief. We still believe, says Three Lions ’98, so yes, all right, I believe — it’s coming home. So much so that by the time I was walking home from Frank’s, I was convinced my guinea pig’s death was, clearly, a good omen, because his name was Bjorn. The Sunday Times/ News Licensing<doc-sep>IT was the theme that united a nation during Euro 96 - and now it's back at the top of the charts as England fans get swept away with World Cup heroics. Three Lions was written by the Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie, along with comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner who at the time presented the football-themed comedy show Fantasy Football. 6 The beloved tune Three Lions was written by the Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie, along with comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd Official video for Football's Coming Home by David Baddiel, Franck Skinner and Lightning Seeds (Three Lions) The song has been resurrected by fans across the country and those who have travelled to Russia to sing it in the stands in support of Gareth Southgate's Three Lions. And no one is enjoying the beloved song's comeback more than Baddiel, Skinner and Broudie as it is now being streamed on multiple music streaming services. On Spotify alone it was streamed 450,000 times yesterday. It is also top spot of the iTunes store, with the World Cup 98 iteration of the song standing at number 10 - surely earning them a significant sum in royalties. This was pointed out to Baddiel on social media. 6 The iTunes charts show Three Lions at the top, and the World Cup 98 iteration in at number 10 6 Baddiel is clearly chuffed to be back in the charts He responded: "Blimey. Again." One Twitter user replied: "Now you know how Slade feel" - referencing the surge in plays the hit Merry Christmas Everybody gets each festive season. Another user joked that Baddiel will be bringing in royalty cash as a result of the England win against Columbia last night. They wrote: "They're coming home, they're coming home, they're coming, the royalties are coming home." It's coming home. Streams for #ThreeLions reached an all-time high yesterday ⬆ pic.twitter.com/PittLWoE5r — Spotify UK & Ireland (@SpotifyUK) July 4, 2018 6 One user joked that the royalties 'are coming home' 6 Hundreds of British tourists in the bars of Magaluf watching and celebrating the victory of England against Colombia Credit: Splash News England's penalty shootout win against Colombia in Moscow was the UK's most watched television event since 2012, according to ITV. ITV's coverage of the Three Lions' last-16 clash at the Spartak Stadium attracted an audience of 16.5 million. Viewing figures peaked at 24.4m for Eric Dier's winning spot-kick, more than any other live sport event since England lost to Portugal on penalties at Euro 2004. ITV said: "The ITV coverage from 6.15pm until 10.34pm was watched by 16.5m/69 per cent share of viewing - making it the most watched TV event since the Olympic closing ceremony in 2012. 6 The beloved comedy pair shared this snap last night of them watching the England game Credit: Twitter JULES RIMET STILL GLEAMING: The full lyrics to Three Lions It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming, Football's coming home... Everyone seems to know the score. They've seen it all before, They just know, they're so sure, that England's gonna throw it away, Gonna blow it away, but I know they can play, 'cause I remember... Three Lions on a shirt, Jules Rimet still gleaming, thirty years of hurt, never stopped me dreaming. So many jokes, so many sneers, but all those oh-so-nears. Wear you down, through the years, But I still see that tackle by Moore and when Lineker scored, Bobby belting the ball and Nobby Dancing! Three Lions on a shirt, Jules Rimet still gleaming, thirty years of hurt, never stopped me dreaming. Commentary - England have done it, in the last minute of extra time. Commentary - What a save, good old England, England who couldn't play football, England have got it in the bag. I know that was then, but it could be again. It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming, Football's coming home, It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming, Football's coming home... It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming, Football's coming home... It's coming home, it's coming home, it's coming, Football's coming home... Three Lions on a shirt, Jules Rimet still gleaming, thirty years of hurt, never stopped me dreaming. "The audience hit a one-minute peak of 24.4m viewers at 9.52pm when England scored the winning penalty. "This is the highest peak audience for live sport since England played Portugal in the 2004 Euros (peak of 24.7m)." An average audience of 20.2m viewers watched between kick-off at 7pm and the winning penalty, ITV said, and 3.3m simulcast requests on ITV Hub was its record number for live programming. The drama also caught the imagination of the nation on social media. England fans in Moscow celebrate World Cup Victory over Colombia MOST READ IN NEWS 'GOBSMACKED' Queen 'gave Harry OK for Oprah series after misleading pitch about soldiers' ROD LIDDLE Ousting right-on National Trust boss is a victory against wokery DRUMMER DEAD School Of Rock star dies at 32 after being hit by car as Jack Black mourns HOUSE ABOUT IT You won't believe what this ordinary London home looks like on the inside Exclusive TOM'S LEGACY Captain Tom Moore — who raised £39m for charity — left family £73k in will JABS HOPE Scientists 'crack cause of blood clots linked to Covid jabs & know how to fix it' Twitter reported a peak of 127,000 tweets per minute at the moment Dier's penalty sent England through. The social network said there had been half-a-million tweets saying 'It's coming home' in the past 24 hours, compared to 1.4m mentions in the 20 days since the start of the tournament, as England fans turned to the 1996 anthem Three Lions. England fan refuses to celebrate Pickford's save just before going wild for Dier's winning penalty kick against Colombia<doc-sep>I believe if you tune your radio to @BBCR1 now, you'll hear that the official charts recording that a football song has become the only song with the same artist line-up to have gone to No. 1 on 4 separate occasions.<doc-sep>
It’s being memed left, right and centre, sung across the nation at every possible moment and - admit it - it’s going round your head this very instance. I’m talking, of course, about ‘Three Lions’ which, despite being 22 years old, and the hurt now stretched out to 52 years, has once again caught fire as England have progressed through to the quarter-final of the World Cup, becoming absolutely unescapable. We’ve written on the science behind why ‘Three Lions’ is the perfect football song but moments of genius like that don’t always come fully-formed, or arrive out of the sky. No, sometimes you have to work at it, to refine and to perfect, to go down dead ends and come back round. To earnestly toil as true artists do in search of magnificence. And what glory it would be to have been a fly on the wall during those writing sessions: to be there to witness this historic work take shape. If only we could see a ‘behind the scenes’ of the Lightning Seeds, David Baddiel and Frank Skinner taking their creative journey. Well, luckily, it turns out that we can do just that. Back in 1996, the record label RCA released The Beautiful Game - the official album of Euro ‘96. I bought it myself (with my own pocket money) and it’s sitting at home somewhere in a dusty cupboard, but I’ve never forgotten it. Related: Every single ‘It’s Coming Home’ meme that you will need for England’s World Cup win It was an absolutely brilliant record, coming as it did at as Britpop was in full swing, loosely themed around football but most importantly around showcasing the best British acts of the time. Highlights included Britpop anthems, ‘Alright’ by Supergrass, ‘Parklife’ (of course) by Blur and Pulp’s Disco 2000, as well as a somewhat-forgotten, but absolutely amazing football song in the form of Black Grape’s ‘England’s Irie’. It wasn’t all upbeat bangers though. Massive Attack featured the reworked version of ‘Eurochild’, from 1994’s Protection, rechristened ‘Eurochild Ninety 6’, one of the greatest songs of their magnificent career, while Olive contributed the laidback groove of ‘This Time’. There was an updated mix of New Order’s ‘World In Motion, the Black Cats mix of Collapsed Lung’s ‘Eat My Goal’ and a bit of rave from The Shamen’s ‘Indica (On Grass Mix)’. It was a genuinely brilliant album that I played to death and, of course, its finale, track 22, was the final version of ‘Three Lions’. But also on that album were two hilarious skits, tracks 1 and 12, performed by Baddiel and Skinner - at the height of their Fantasy Football fame - showing them trying to write ‘Three Lions’ - and it could have been a very different song. I don’t think I’ve listened to these for 22 years, but they’re every bit as funny as I remember. Here’s Part One: And here’s Part Two: Somehow, we don’t think the folk version would have been quite so successful as the final, Lightning Seeds-powered one. You want to hear the original don’t you? Go on then. All together now: “It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming….” Superb, I’m off to play The Beautiful Game on repeat for the rest of the week.