David Baddiel and Frank Skinner tell Chris Evans about the origins of Three Lions (It’s Coming Home)

Virgin Radio

25 Nov 2022, 12:59

David Baddiel and Frank Skinner joined The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky today to speak about the new festive version of their iconic football anthem.

Three Lions (It’s Coming Home for Christmas) comes in celebration of the mens FIFA World Cup currently taking place in Qatar, but Baddiel admitted he had to be dragged “kicking and screaming” into releasing another version of the song.

He revealed: “I had to be lured into the idea of releasing Three Lions again, but it’s not just about releasing it again. It’s the idea of having a Christmas number one and an old-style Christmas number in the tradition we hope of Slade and Wizard and whatever before.”

The original song was released first in 1996 and is the only song to have ever become the UK number one on four separate occasions: twice in 1996, for three weeks in 1998 and again in 2018.

During the Euros in 2020, the song also spent 4 weeks in the top ten.

It has become synonymous with any football events that England are competing in and Frank and Baddiel shared how they came to write the song all those years ago.

David shared: “Ian Brody of the Lightning Seeds was asked to write the England song in Euro 96 and he's a very humble man at some level, which is not usual for a popstar. So he thought, ‘I don't think I'm the right person to write the lyrics for that. David Baddiel and Frank Skinner- who are on fantasy football league and at this moment are the nation's football fans- they should write the lyrics.’”

Frank chipped in: “I went up to Liverpool. I went to a football match in Liverpool to meet Ian right. And then we went to a garage, because Dave was on tour he couldn't come, and he literally played me the tune and he recorded it on a cassette with me going ‘La la la la la la la la’. Then I brought that back and played it to Dave.”

The pair were living together at the time but have no idea where the cassette tape ended up.

Baddiel continued: “Then we wrote it and put it out and we went to number one, it was all great, but we didn't really know how it would be.

“It wasn’t until England v Scotland at Euro 96 where, at the end of that game, the whole crowd started singing it.”

They haven’t stopped singing it since and now it’s back just in time for the World Cup 2022.

There has been a lot of talk about the ethics about holding the sporting event in Qatar due to their laws on LGBTQ+ people and workers rights and its become a point of contention for many fans.

When asked their thoughts on the matter, Frank admitted: “In seriousness, I’d rather it wasn’t there but it’s hard to put it anywhere now that hasn’t got some bad stuff in the closet, including here to be honest.”

According to the pair, they do still watch the football together and tend to gather at Dave’s house for the match.

When Chris asked why they choose Dave’s house, the pair joked because it was nicer.

Dave added: “Frank’s got a lovely house but it’s like he’s just moved in and he’s been there for about 10 years.

“He's done this a lot. We used to live together then I moved out and bought house number one on this road. He bought a house at number five. Now, I'm not going to give the numbers, but he's bought a house about 10 doors down from me. It's like a very expensive form of stalking.”

Three Lions (It’s Coming Home for Christmas) is out now.

For more great interviews listen to  The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or  catch up on-demand here.