"(How Does It Feel to Be) on Top of the World" is a song by the British

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

England United – formed by members of Echo and the Bunnymen,

Ocean Colour Scene Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Solihull in 1989. They have had five top 10 albums including a number one in 1997. They have also achieved seventeen top 40 singles and six top 10 sin ...

Space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

and the

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. The song was written by Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch and

Johnny Marr Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher, 31 October 1963) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerous ...

and released as official theme of the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

for the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

. According to

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

the single has sold a total of 94,000 copies.

Background and release

In 1998,

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and the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

called a group of artists to record the official theme of the

for the

. The

, credited as England United, was formed by Ian McCulloch of Echo and the Bunnymen, who co-wrote the song with

, the

, Tommy Scott of

, and

Simon Fowler Simon Geoffrey Fowler (born 25 May 1965 in Meriden, Warwickshire) is an English singer and acoustic guitarist, best known as the frontman of Ocean Colour Scene. The Fanatics Simon Fowler commenced his music career as the lead singer and songwr ...

. The song was the final single by the

released with

Geri Halliwell Geraldine Estelle Horner (née Halliwell; born 6 August 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, author, and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1990s as Ginger Spice, a member of the girl group the Spice Girls. With over 100 million records ...

's vocals, until the group's reunion in 2007. It was overshadowed however by " Three Lions 98" and "

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". It was released on 2 CD single formats on the same day, the first featuring the standard versions of the song, including an instrumental. The second featuring remixes by Perfecto and an alternative instrumental version. The sleeve designs were of the white home kit (CD1) and the

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red kit (CD2).

Reception

Although the song was a substantial chart hit in the UK, peaking at #9, critical reception to the song was largely negative. Chris Evans was quoted as saying: "It is a good pop song, but you can't sing it on the terraces. You can't really get your teeth into the lyrics." Charlie Porter in ''The Times'' said that it was "a snivelling apology for an official song" that "washes over you".

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, writing in ''

The Daily Mirror ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' quoted footballers

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal ...

and

Rio Ferdinand Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and was ...

describing it as "bollocks" and "rubbish" respectively. In 2006 ''Guardian'' readers voted it the second worst England football song ever, after 1982's "This Time (We'll Get It Right)".Football anthems: Fans reveal 24 years of hurt by labelling England's 1982 World Cup song the worst ever: Mis-hits and screamers BBC reporter Mark Savage describes the song as "clumsy and boring". When it was played at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, it was booed by fans.

Live performances

The song was first performed live on ''

TFI Friday ''TFI Friday'' is an entertainment show that was broadcast on Channel 4 television in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker, and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first five series. The sixth series ...

'' on 1 May 1998. On 21 May 1998, a performance of the song was recorded for ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'', which was broadcast on 5 June 1998.

Music video

An official music video was released featuring all the members of England United, with appearances by footballers of the National Team, including

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

and

Track listing

;CD one / Cassette # "(How Does It Feel to Be) On Top of the World" – 4:50 # "(How Does It Feel to Be) On Top of the World (Instrumental)" – 4:47 ;CD two # "(How Does It Feel To Be) On Top of the World (Perfecto Edit)" # "(How Does It Feel To Be) On Top of the World (Perfecto Remix)" – 6:00 # "(How Does It Feel To Be) On Top of the World (Match of the Day Instrumental)" ;CD (International) # "(How Does It Feel to Be) On Top of the World (Radio Edit)" – 4:31 # "(How Does It Feel to Be) On Top of the World" – 4:50 # "(How Does It Feel to Be) On Top of the World (Instrumental)" – 4:47

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:How Does it Feel to Be on Top of the World England national football team songs 1998 singles Songs written by Ian McCulloch (singer) Songs written by Johnny Marr Echo & the Bunnymen songs Spice Girls songs Space (English band) songs Ocean Colour Scene songs Football songs and chants 1998 songs England at the 1998 FIFA World Cup