Three Lions lyrics in full: How Frank Skinner and David Baddiel’s song became England’s anthem

'I know that was then, but it could be again...'

Euro 2020 is finally upon us, a year late but all the more eagerly anticpated for that.

As usual, optimism among England fans is absurdly high, with plenty fancing the look of Gareth Southgate’s youthful squad, once more loaded with fresh talent like Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho and Jack Grealish to back the attacking threat of Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling, if only they can realise their unquestionable potential.

We can soon expect to hear the chorus of “Three Lions” ringing out from the throats of mightily-refreshed revellers in reopened pubs across the land.

It’s like Euro 96 all over again, not least thanks to Foden’s Gazza tribute hairstyle.

What could possibly go wrong?

The beloved song was, of course, written for that tournament by comedians Frank Skinner and David Baddiel - hosts of the BBC’s lads’ mag comedy show Fantasy Football (1994-96) – with Ian Broudie of Liverpudlian Britpop outfit The Lightning Seeds whipping up excitement by conjuring the spirit of 1966 and recent memories of heartbreak at Italia 90.

It really caught on and became a national phenomenon when England beat Scotland 2-0 at Wembley on 15 June 1996, a game in which Israeli psychic Uri Geller claimed to have moved the ball with his mind to ensure Gary McAllister’s spot kick was saved by David Seaman and in which Paul Gascoigne secured his immortality by flicking the ball over Colin Hendry’s head to thrash home past Andy Goram. When the final whistle blew, “Three Lions” erupted around the stadium.

Baddiel described the occasion in conversation with Kirsty Young on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs as ”one of the most extraordinary moments of my life” and admitting to still feeling goosebumps whenever he thinks about it.

Recalling that heady summer on Josh Widdicombe and Chris Scull’s Quickly Kevin podcast, Skinner remembered joking before the match that he and Baddiel had offered to write an anthem for the Scots called “Three Games” and revealed Gazza’s superstitious attachment to the song, the playmaker refusing to get off the team bus at one point until “Three Lions” had been blasted out on the stereo.

Ian Broudie of The Lightening Seeds with comedians Frank Skinner and David Baddiel (PA)

When Gazza’s goal hit the back of the net, Skinner’s girlfriend at the time was so excited she belted the man sat in front of her in the celebrity box in the back of the head, the victim turning around in annoyance and revealing himself to be heavyweight boxer Frank Bruno.

The song was number one in the charts – dethroning The Fugees - and became the anthem of that uncharacteristically balmy summer, the legacy of disappointment and hope for the future it evoked capturing England’s latest thwarted dream as the team went out on penalties to Germany.

Striker Jurgen Klinsmann later admitted “Three Lions” was so catchy that even the Germans themselves were singing it en route to the Wembley semi-final.

It was of course Southgate himself who missed the crucial penalty and was condemned to sending himself up with a brown paper bag over his head in a Pizza Hut commercial.

Skinner said in his Quickly Kevin interview in September 2017 that he believed Southgate should not be allowed to manage England because of the pain his miss had caused the nation, an opinion he has no doubt reconsidered since the team’s barn-storming run to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

He and David Baddiel subsequently revived and re-recorded “Three Lions” with updated lyrics for both France 98 and the South Africa World Cup in 2010 but, if you still only know the chorus, here are the lyrics in full (vintage commentary in italics).

(I think it’s bad news for the English game)

(We’re not creative enough)

(We’re not positive enough)

It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming

Football’s coming home (We’ll go on getting bad results)

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

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 Remet still gleaming

Thirty years of hurt

Never stopped me dreaming

So many jokes, so many sneers

But all those “oh so near’s”

When your 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 Remet still gleaming

Thirty years of hurt

Never stopped me dreaming

(England have done it, in the last minute of extra time)

(What a save, what now!)

(Good old England, England that 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

(England have done it)

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 Remet still gleaming

Thirty years of hurt

Never stopped me dreaming

Three lions on a shirt

Jules Remet still gleaming

Thirty years of hurt

Never stopped me dreaming

Three lions on a shirt

Jules Remet still gleaming

Thirty years of hurt

Never stopped me dreaming