"Back Home" is a popular song written by Bill Martin and

Phil Coulter Philip Coulter (born 19 February 1942) is an Irish musician, songwriter and record producer from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was awarded the Gold Badge from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in October 2009. Coulter ha ...

. It was recorded by the 1970 England World Cup squad and released on the single Pye 7N 17920. It was produced by Martin and Coulter. The musical arrangements were made by Coulter. The single, which began the tradition of the England squad recording songs to celebrate its involvement in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, reached number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

for three weeks in May 1970. England were the reigning world champions at the time, having won the 1966 World Cup, but were knocked out in the quarter finals after a 3-2 defeat by

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. The song was also a hit in Ireland, reaching number two in the charts there. The England team failed to qualify for the next two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and, although it did release records on qualification in 1982 and 1986, it did not reach number one again until 1990, when it topped the charts with the New Order collaboration "

World in Motion "World in Motion..." is a song by British musical group New Order (performed with the England national football team, credited as ENGLANDneworder). The song is New Order's only number-one song on the UK Singles Chart. It was produced for the En ...

". The song is one of four singles supporting the England team to have topped the UK chart, along with the aforementioned "World in Motion", "

Three Lions "Three Lions" is a song by the English comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner and the rock band the Lightning Seeds. It was released on 20 May 1996 to mark the England football team's participation in that year's UEFA European Championshi ...

" and "

Shout for England "Shout" is 2010 single by Shout for England, an ensemble featuring Dizzee Rascal and James Corden. It was an unofficial anthem

". The tune to the song was also used as the theme tune for popular BBC mid-1990s football/comedy TV programme ''

Fantasy Football League ''Fantasy Football League'' is a British television comedy programme hosted by David Baddiel and Frank Skinner. It was inspired by the Fantasy Football phenomenon which started in the early 1990s and followed on from a BBC Radio 5 programme hos ...

''. The B side of the 7" vinyl single was called "Cinnamon Stick", and was also sung by the England football team. It began, "Sweet as sugar, twice as nice, cinnamon stick, cinnamon stick; see that twinkle in her eyes, cinnamon stick, cinnamon stick." After this, the tempo increases as the song goes into declarations of love. The b-side gained infamy during the 1998 World Cup, when Skinner and Baddiel mentioned it on their television show “Fantasy World Cup”, a spin-off of “Fantasy Football League”. Jeff Astle in his usual closing segment to the show, sung the song at the end of a later episode.

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Back Home (England Song) 1970 songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles England national football team songs Songs written by Bill Martin (songwriter) Songs written by Phil Coulter Football songs and chants England at the 1970 FIFA World Cup Pye Records singles