Ian Broudie, founder of band The Lightning Seeds, revealed to FourFourTwo that he was so scared of injuring Robbie Fowler during filming for the Three Lions music video that he instead passed his responsibilities on to comedian David Baddiel.
Working with comedians Baddiel and Frank Skinner, The Lightning Seeds helped to produce arguably England's most iconic football anthem, with Three Lions becoming the only song in existence to have reached UK No. 1 on four separate occasions with the same artists. Such great success in the '90s also meant the inevitable production of a music video, with then-England players drafted in to make cameo appearances.
Robbie Fowler was one of the players, and during the music video he is seen comfortably taking the ball past a defence comprised of Broudie, Baddiel and Frank Skinner in a recreation of Gary Lineker's 1990 goal against West Germany. The three songwriters then joined in the celebrations, but that didn't stop Broudie worrying about potentially injuring Fowler and putting the striker out of action.
Consequently, Broudie told FFT in the newest edition, a World Cup special available to buy, that instead of something going wrong, he made Baddiel take his place in grabbing Fowler instead.
"One of the things we did was recreate famous England goals with myself, Frank Skinner and David Baddiel," Broudie explained.
"For Gary Lineker’s goal against West Germany, Robbie Fowler played the role of Lineker and I was supposed to be playing the David Platt role in the celebrations, grabbing him around the neck and ruffling his hair.
"I was terrified I was going to injure him – I knew Liverpool had a game coming up! – so David did that bit in the end. But the video was really good fun."
More than 25 years on and the song is still going strong, having enjoyed a renaissance due to the successes of England over the past two tournaments. Broudie admits that he has endured a love hate relationship with Three Lions, though, but Euro 2020 helped rekindle his love of the song.
Pleasingly, Broudie admitted that he joins in whenever England fans start chanting Three Lions at a stadium. While watching England beat Germany 2-0 at Wembley in the last-16 of Euro 2020, the song once again came to the fore.
"At Euro 2020, I was at the Germany game and the final. When Three Lions was sung, it was exhilarating.
"I do join in – when you’re there, you’re just one of the crowd. It was great that another generation embraced it. I have had a mixed relationship with the song over the years: on one hand, it’s been a bit of a millstone; on the other, it’s a massive gift.
"But now I’m really comfortable with it. I enjoy playing it and include it in most setlists."
