SANTA MONICA — England may not have won the World Cup, but it has won the hearts of the internet with its boisterous, melodious choruses of chants. It’s all everyone talks about when the English conclude a game.
It’s become a tradition for the English to trumpet its lyrical genius across the stadium. In 1996, the British pop band The Lightning Seeds and comedy duo Frank Skinner and David Baddiel wrote “Three Lions” which fans sang during the European Championships and became one of the most iconic songs the England national team has ever had, and unless you refuse to watch the competition with sound or are force to sneak peaks throughout work, it’s hard to ignore the Brits chanting away for their favorite team. Even with the dwindling number of supporters in Russia, England’s singalongs are heard by everyone.
Well, the lyrics are hard to make out somethings, but you can tell England really cares.
With one of the most impressive runs the English has seen since 1996, “Three Lions” has risen from the ashes, streaming more than one million times on spotify. The song has even made its appearance in the world cup again as it begins to play after every England win, but the fans only sing it every so often.
The latest of England’s chants in the 2018 World Cup is a catchy chant to the beat of “September” by Earth, Win and Fire. The singalong has taken full liberties of being in Russia. While the song blatantly states that England is in Russia, it also takes a nod at Russian’s favorite alcoholic drink, Vodka. Of course, no chant is complete without a cry of confidence in its team as the song cries out “Whoa, England’s going all the way.”
The English fans even made one using the song “Whole Again” by Atomic Kitten from 2001 to celebrate head coach Gareth Southgate. The fans parodied the song lyrics changing baby into Southgate and the final line to “Football’s coming home again.”
But England isn’t the only team to have done it — they just did it the best and became known for it. at the 2016 European Championships, Northern Ireland fans chanted about Will Grigg to the 1996 “Freed From Desire” by Gala. At the 2014 World Cup, Argentina sang out “Brazil, tell me how it feels to be bossed around in your own home” to Creedence Clearwater Reviavl’s “Bad Moon Rising.”
While there ultimately is no prize for the clever chant creation, it definitely makes the competition more entertaining. Even if their team isn’t winning early on, fans can enjoy making up the latest chant and singing them as boisterous as possible throughout the tournament.
