David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and The Lightning Seeds have re-released their soccer anthem Three Lions as a Christmas song with reworked lyrics and a video featuring England’s women’s soccer team, the Lionesses.
Composer Ian Broudie announced in October that a revised version of the song could be in the works, and that it had been inspired by the Lionesses’ European Championship victory.
The titled song ‘Three Lions (It’s Coming Home for Christmas)’ begins with the line ‘Loving that Lionesses win’ and goes on to cheer on the men’s team in the current World Cup with statements such as ‘Three lions in a sleigh, with Inspiration She- Lions’.
The video begins with the couple watching TV, mirroring their previous music videos, but on the TV is the Lionesses’ infamous post-win press conference, where Mary Earps can be seen dancing across the table in front of Sarina Wiegman.
The lyrics go on to say, ’56 years of pain, for the men’s game’ and ’20 weeks of pain, for the women’s game, obviously’ as they continue to recognize their accomplishments over the summer.
The comedic track doesn’t ignore the controversies surrounding this World Cup, though as they sing, ‘When they decided on Qatar, they should have checked the VAR.’
The accompanying video also features Geoff Hurst dressed as Santa Claus with European winners Beth England and Jess Carter making an appearance.
The song follows up on the Lionesses’ previous 2022 release which featured former players Fara Williams, Rachel Yankey, Faye White, Rachel Brown and Anita Asante along with Chelcee Grimes, The Lightning Seeds and Baddiel.
That version featured lines about current Lionesses players, including Manchester United’s Alessia Russo.
The current Christmas version is the fifth official release for the track with two of the previous releases topping the charts.
So far this version has peaked at #20 on the Official UK Top 40 Singles Chart, but it may go higher depending on England’s performance as we get closer to Christmas.
Hopefully the song and inspiration from the Lionesses’ achievement over the summer will propel England across the line in their round of 16 tie with Senegal later today.
