February 12, 1998 16:13

McCULLOCH AND MARR WRITE ENGLAND'S WORLD CUP THEME

[a]Ian McCulloch[/a] has beaten rival entries from Blur, Pulp and The Lightning Seeds to record the official England World Cup Football Squad song...

Ian McCulloch, (centre in picture) singer with Echo & The Bunnymen , has beaten rival entries from Blur, Pulp and The Lightning Seeds to record the official England World Cup Football Squad song.

'(How Does It Feel To Be) On Top Of The World?' was written by McCulloch and ex-Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr five years ago and will be released as a single by London Records on May 25. The song's chorus includes the terrace-friendly chant: "England we love you."

Current plans are for the track to be re-recorded next month in a 'Perfect Day'-style collaboration with vocals from a number of different artists which The Sun newspaper today claims will include All Saints, Cast, Jarvis Cocker, Finley Quaye, Louise, Robbie Williams plus members of the England squad.

Echo & The Bunnymen were asked to submit a version of the track after Football Association chiefs heard a demo. The Bunnymen had originally submitted an early version of the song with different lyrics as the theme music for The Golden Boot, a six-week series of programmes to be hosted by ex-England footballer Gary Lineker in the run up to the World Cup in June. The song was written around the same time as the other material on the Bunnymen's 'Evergreen' album.

Ian Broudie's Lightning Seeds were in the running for the prestigious official England World Cup song with 'Three Lions '98', an updated version of their mega-successful Euro '96 theme which hit Number One in the UK.