This is a song I wrote for the English World Cup team.

I'm sick of hearing rubbish football songs and thought I'd have a go at writing something that might capture the English condition.

I wanted to avoid triumphalism and instead write something poignant yet hopeful that seeks to celebrate an England of compassion, humanity and love.

Winning the World Cup is not about glory or pride or outdated notions or nationalism but rather a way to unite a nation that has broken and fragmented and lost it's identity in a way that would have been unimaginable when England last won the World Cup in 1966.

I recorded this the other night in my bedroom and I have a nasty cough at the moment, so it's not the best of recordings, but that's not important. This song is for all of you. Take it and sing it. Sing it on the terraces, sing it in the pubs, sing it in the parks, but most of all- sing it together.




The Albion Hymn.

Could it be it’s almost fifty years
Since we raised that golden cup as one?
And dare we dream we’ll see the day
When it sits again ‘neath an English sun.

Oh we dare not speak our heart’s desire
Lest all our dreams be made of sand
But carry home that shining cup
To England’s green and pleasant land

We ask this not for glory’s sake
It’s deep inside we wear our pride
But all our children weary and weak
We shall nourish from that cup divine.

And humble shall our heroes be
As they journey over the African sands
For to carry home that healing cup,
And to mend our broken mourning land.

But if it’s not to be don’t weep
Take comfort from your brother’s hand
There’s peace and kindness in the cup
That soaks the soil of England’s land.


WorldCupAnthem