"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 name is ...

, reached number one on the UK Singles Chart 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 was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. 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 name is ...

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 English band New Order (band), 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 fo ...

". 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 may refer to: England *The Royal Arms of England, a coat of arms symbolising England (originally England, Normandy and the Duchy of Aquitaine, historically all ruled by Richard I) *The Three Lions, the nickname of the England national fo ...

" and " Shout for England". The tune to the song was also used as the theme tune for popular BBC mid-1990s football/comedy TV programme '' Fantasy Football League''. 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 Association football songs and chants England at the 1970 FIFA World Cup Pye Records singles