Alex Mann

Writing a football song is a very difficult task for any band, for two reasons. Firstly, they have a lot to live up to! 'Three Lions' in 1996 was a massive tune, that ten years on is still held as the benchmark for football songs: within weeks it was echoing around Wembley with the backing vocals of 70,000 English fans. Any football song is inevitably compared, but in truth it is not fair to do so. They are two completely different aims, as I will go into later. Secondly, how exactly does one make a football song different to the rest? Yes, we're going to win. We're the best. We're looking forward to it. Etcetera.

I wrote this review two weeks after buying the song for one reason: this is a song that grows on you. Upon hearing it for the first time, I felt let down: this was not going to be sung across the terraces. With time though, I have come to like it. A lot. The two part chorus is infectious, with the cries of "it's calling, it's calling, you now!" having that necessary sense of occasion and importance. This is a song which really makes you feel like the World Cup is an important event, whether we win it or not.

The sheer depth of the song is important in this. As well as the band, there is a string section playing the riff in the background. The vocal harmonies in the chorus also provide a sense of occasion, and has a definite "beer swelling men at the match all singing together" quality, even if the pitch is too high and the key too in tune!

If you wanted a song which would become an anthem for fans on the terrace, you will be disappointed because this is it. But New Order and 'World in Motion proved that football songs (as opposed to chants) can be a success, and this song has longevity. Forgetting the football back drop, it is a solid, typically catchy (if by the numbers) Embrace song. Give it a chance.  

Rating:

7/10

Discuss this article in the forum