Is it coming home?

[Duncan Gardner]

3 Ivans in the gingham
Joe Tito's boys still trying
Just like Billy Bingham
They're the 12th lost tribe of Zion

As I mentioned to ABE stalwart Rev Calvert, if they knock England out we can forgive the D Zagreb Blue Boys wrecking the Starbucks at Glentoran Airport. Neo Nazi cunts obv but no manners what a critic...

[sw2borshch]

Can anyone remember people talking about The Three Lions prior to this song? It's a concept that didn't seem to have any traction in 95, say, but hasn't half gained some.

[Ray de Galles]

World In Motion’s lyrics referred to them, “Three lions on my chest” in John Barnes’ rap.

[Kevin S]

VA, yep, much better, cheers. I now need to see that added into the play.

[treibeis]

I've not read the rest of the thread in detail, so excuse the possible repetition:

If England win the World Cup, the song's obsolete, isn't it? They'll make another one, with an alternative "hurt/shirt" rhyme, but still.

[jwdd27]

Reading the foreign press after the Colombia game I was surprised at the mentions of "die 'Three Lions'" and "Tre Leoni", so calling the team that has obviously caught on in Europe, if not in England.

Re: the song, the Guardian reports that some of the younger fans are singing "jewels remain still gleaming", which I guess makes as much sense as Jules Rimet still gleaming - M. Rimet was long deàd, and his trophy got nicked and melted down once Brazil won it for good.

As for football's coming home meaning the trophy, if the French win it will be doing just that.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Spanish football journos call England “Los pross” which I guess comes from ‘pros’ but I never got it explained

[Felicity, I guess so]

I made the comment at work about Rimet being French but got a mix of blank looks and mild hostility so gave up

[ad hoc]

Is it a hipster thing in Europe to refer to England as Tre Leoni or whatever, just as it is in England to talk about Die Mannschaft or Gli Azzurri or El Tri etc.?

[Hot Orange]

Reading the foreign press after the Colombia game I was surprised at the mentions of "die 'Three Lions'" and "Tre Leoni", so calling the team that has obviously caught on in Europe, if not in England.

Re: the song, the Guardian reports that some of the younger fans are singing "jewels remain still gleaming", which I guess makes as much sense as Jules Rimet still gleaming - M. Rimet was long deàd, and his trophy got nicked and melted down once Brazil won it for good.

As for football's coming home meaning the trophy, if the French win it will be doing just that.

The new trophy was made in Italy.

I mentioned this to everyone else in the room (i.e. no-one), when Gary Lineker concluded his coverage of the game at the weekend with a wistful look at the trophy and, of course, the words "It's coming home".

[Jah Womble]

Of course it counts, man - it's a corker of a tune.

In terms of 'relevance' - and being brilliant - absolutely. My only hesitation here was regarding the use of the word 'song'.

[Satchmo Distel]

I wonder if Del Amitri's 1998 Scotland World Cup song, "Don't Come Home Too Soon", was (amongst other attributable meanings) a sly reference to the original Three Lions?

Don't Come Home Before The Postcards, to adapt a very old joke. The title is presumably a reference to Scotland having never got out of a group. However, this was the first 32 team tournament so the group should, in theory, have been weaker than their previous ones.

[Satchmo Distel]

I've not read the rest of the thread in detail, so excuse the possible repetition:

If England win the World Cup, the song's obsolete, isn't it? They'll make another one, with an alternative "hurt/shirt" rhyme, but still.

It's Staying Home, It's Coming Home Again?