So successful was the original ‘Three Lions’, buoyed by England’s near miss at the 1996 European Championships, that the only logical thing for David Baddiel, Frank Skinner and Ian Brodie to do was re-record it for the next big international tournament: the 1998 World Cup.
3 Lions ‘98, by Baddiel, Skinner & the Lightning Seeds (their 2nd and final #1)
3 weeks, from 14th June – 5th July 1998
It starts off very meta, with the Wembley crowd singing the original chorus, and Jonathan Pearce reliving Gareth Southgate’s missed penalty that lost them the ’96 semi-final. After that it’s business as usual, with the sound perhaps a bit beefier than the earlier version. The lyrics are different too, with the first verse focusing on how close England came two years before, and the second focusing on how this will be their year in France.
‘3 Lions’ has been accused, as I mentioned in my first post on the song, of being a bit arrogant by those who don’t want England to do well at international tournaments (i.e. most people who aren’t English). I would argue that the 1998 version is even more over-confident, as thirty years of hurt is now no more years of hurt (okay, thirty-two years of hurt wouldn’t have scanned well, but still….)
This isn’t a football blog, so in short: football didn’t ‘come home’ in 1998, Argentina saw to that by beating England in the round of sixteen. David Beckham, Diego Simeone and all that… In fact, ‘3 Lions ‘98’ was at #1 for longer than England were in the tournament. And football still hasn’t come home in the near thirty years since, though it has come closer recently (too close for comfort for this Scot…) Just last month England lost the Euro 2024 final to Spain.
And as much as I find it annoying as a modern cultural behemoth, I again cannot argue that ‘3 Lions’ isn’t a good song. The daddy of all football pop songs. Plus, the video is good fun, once more featuring Geoff Hurst, and Robbie Williams, a lot of Germans with mullets, and a bit of fun with the fact that Stefan Kuntz had scored Germany’s equaliser two years before.
Away from the football, there’s a serious question to ask here: is this a different song to the original ‘Three Lions’? I’d say it obviously is – different name, different lyrics, different production – and so make it chart-topper #793, and not just a re-entry of chart-topper #740. However, the OCC now combine the versions when the song starts climbing the charts every two years (it will make #1 again in 2018). This is something our blog will have to consider in the 21st century, with several former number ones preparing to re-top the charts. Do they count as separate records – therefore deserving of an entirely new post written about them – or are they the same record returning to the top decades later? ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has already been back to the summit, but that was twinned with a new song – ‘These Are the Days of Our Lives’ – and I treated it as a new number one. Something to consider, then, and I’d welcome the thoughts of any seasoned chart watchers out there.
‘3 Lions’ meanwhile has been re-released several times, and re-recorded several more. There’s a 2010 version with Russel Brand and Robbie Williams (singing this time) which made #21. There’s a 2022 Lionesses’ version, and a Christmas version to tie-in with the winter World Cup in Qatar. Thanks to England’s Euro 2024 run, it returned to #8 just a couple of weeks ago. It’s no exaggeration to state that this song is now up there with ‘Hey Jude’ and the aforementioned ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ as one of the best-known, best-loved, best-remembered chart toppers of all time.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
for my money yes oldies do count as new number ones – this is rewritten so that’s easy – but My Sweet Lord and the Elvis oldies count as “new” because it’s in new circumstances, and presumably some new fans buying the record amongst those buying CD’s where they may have bought vinyl originally (or download, or stream these days). New fans/buyers = new occasion. 3 Lions downloads quite well every 2 years, granted from a low sales base these days, but they must be people who haven’t bought it before, which is at least something to consider when half the streaming “sales” each week are just the same people passively playlisting or habitually playing the same tracks for months on end.
It’s an argument I’ve made since streaming took over – can a record that appeals to the same fans over a long period really qualify as “sales” when actual sales get a one-off so subsequent actual sales are actual new people buying it? It used to keep the charts fresh, and radio hits never counted towards the charts – still dont in the UK – so Spotify playlist should be treated the same. This will clear the Xmas charts of the same oldies in the same order for the rest of lives. So in those cases, no Mariah and Wham don’t count as new repeat number ones – the same people playing the same playlists year after year is not new people discovering old music, it’s familiarity in the background when they shop online and put the decs up. There is often a big difference between xmas oldies people download (cos it’s not playlisted) and those in the charts – see Leona Lewis One More Sleep, a total classic that sells high in the sales chart but never appears as high amongst the most-streamed/charted. Brenda Lee, on t’other hand, barely sells any, but is huge on streaming. Co-incidentally it usually appears fronted-up on Amazon along with their latest “exclusive”. Mariah, Wham and a bunch of USA ancient oldies that meant nothing in the UK until the streaming era. Meanwhile, loads of our own christmas classic oldies never get playlisted.
I agree with the Harrison and the Elvis re-releases being ‘new’ number ones, as they were released for a specific reason, with new packaging and different ‘B’-sides (I assume). Whereas Three Lions in 2018, and Wham and Mariah more recently, are not ‘new’ number ones as they haven’t been specifically ‘re-released’ (though you could argue that re-releasing something in the streaming era is impossible). Thanks!
I like this one…I have a weakness for anthem like songs…