The iconic chant, set to irk rival fans at yet another major tournament, is England’s true soccer anthem – however far ‘Sweet Caroline’ mania spread during Euro 2020.
Those three words capture the exhausting experience of an Englishman during major tournaments. Dreams of glory, painful memories, weary pessimism, stress, pride and ultimately…more pain.
But it’ll be different this time! That’s what the English will be saying anyway, and why they’ll be roaring ‘It’s Coming Home’ from London to Doha for the rest of the tournament.
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‘It’s Coming Home’ England song: How it started
It all began in 1996, when the European Championships came ‘home’ to soccer’s motherland, the U.K.
It was the first major tournament to be held in Britain since England lifted the 1966 World Cup on home soil at Wembley Stadium.
English comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, who hosted a much-loved football TV show at the time, teamed-up with The Lightning Seeds, a rock band from Liverpool, to write a song marking the occasion. They called it ‘Three Lions.’
The ’90s was a draining period to be an England fan, and the scars of that decade have yet to heal. The aforementioned range of emotions hit a dizzying peak in the summer of ‘96.
The buzz and feel-good atmosphere around the 1996 tournament is still talked about in England, almost as much as the heartbreak that followed.
In ‘Three Lions’, Baddiel and Skinner sang of the “30 years of hurt” since 1966 over iconic commentary that would stir any fan — with the line “I know that was then but it could be again” summing up their doomed hope.
The song went mega-viral by today’s standard, let alone pre-internet. It quickly shot to number one on the UK music charts and became the staple at Wembley all summer.
The chants got louder and louder as England charged into the semifinals, but cut suddenly when Gareth Southgate missed the deciding penalty to hand Germany a place in the final.
Baddiel and Skinner released an updated version of ‘Three Lions’ for the 1998 World Cup. England lost on penalties once again, this time to Argentina.
Despite those disappointments, the tune has been adopted into English culture and will be sung until the Three Lions finally avenge their ’90s pain… and beyond.
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‘It’s Coming Home’ lyrics
(I think it’s bad news for the English game We’re not creative enough, and 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 Rimet still gleaming Thirty years of hurt Never stopped me dreaming So many jokes, so many sneers But all those “Oh, so nears” wear you 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 Rimet still gleaming Thirty years of hurt Never stopped me dreaming (England have done it, in the last minute of extra time! What a save, Gordon Banks! 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 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 (It’s coming home) Three lions on a shirt (It’s coming home, it’s coming) Jules Rimet still gleaming (Football’s coming home It’s coming home) Thirty years of hurt (It’s coming home, it’s coming) Never stopped me dreaming (Football’s coming home It’s coming home) Three lions on a shirt (It’s coming home, it’s coming) Jules Rimet still gleaming (Football’s coming home It’s coming home) Thirty years of hurt (It’s coming home, it’s coming) Never stopped me dreaming (Football’s coming home It’s coming home) Three lions on a shirt (It’s coming home, it’s coming) Jules Rimet still gleaming (Football’s coming home It’s coming home) Thirty years of hurt (It’s coming home, it’s coming) Never stopped me dreaming (Football’s coming home)
‘It’s Coming Home’ flags, T-shirts
Whenever England play, those three words are unavoidable — on shirts, banners, flags and even painted onto bodies.
‘It’s Coming Home’ tattoos are a popular choice for the especially optimistic Englishman. Some especially regrettable examples cropped up during Euro 2020, with some fans choosing to celebrate a glorious ‘victory’ even before the final defeat to Italy.
‘It’s Coming Home’ memes
As the years have gone by without English glory, the use of ‘It’s Coming Home’ in an ironic context has grown ever more popular.
English fans regularly use the term for a sarcastic, self-aware gag poking fun at their own tendency to take even the faintest positive as a sign that football is coming home.
Meanwhile, fans of rival nations — who might not always note the difference between a sarcastic and sincere ‘It’s Coming Home’ — are quick to use the term to taunt England.
Following Italy’s shootout victory over England at the Euro 2020 final, the Italians indulged heavily in ‘It’s Coming Home’ banter. They appropriated the chant to sing “It’s Coming Rome,” with Leonardo Bonucci particularly leading the campaign of mockery.
Maybe this year, it finally will come ‘home’? England fans will be hoping so.
