John Barnes has called out some of the England squad for skipping the recording of his iconic World in Motion anthem, as they decided to head to the pub instead. The Liverpool and England legend labelled the absent football stars as 'frauds' when he spilled the beans on how the legendary New Order track – which went to No.1 in the UK charts before the 1990 World Cup – came about.
Only Six Players Turned Up
Speaking to online bingo provider Zingo Bingo, Barnes said: 'There’s a story behind this, and I’m going to expose a lot of the frauds involved. As much as this is a number-one hit for the England World Cup song from 1990, there were only six people who were on the song.' He explained that the players were wary after a poor experience with the 1986 World Cup song, Viva Es Spana, which featured all 22 squad members and was, in his words, 'terrible'.
Barnes continued: 'When 1990 came along and Bobby Robson said, ‘Are you going to do another song?’, the players remembered ’86. We didn’t know it was going to be New Order. We thought it was going to be typical: 20 players with their arms around each other, the song was going to be terrible, and we knew nothing about the song.'
The Six Who Made It
The six players who did turn up were Barnes himself, Paul Gascoigne, Peter Beardsley, Steve McMahon, Chris Waddle and Des Walker. Barnes nailed the legendary rap on the song, with lyrics including: 'You’ve got to hold and give, but do it at the right time, you can be slow or fast, but you must get to the line.' He is still asked to perform it by fans and occasionally on stage with New Order to this day.
Barnes on Family and Career
Barnes also opened up about his family, saying: 'My family is the most important thing. I’ve got my kids and stuff. My mum and dad, they are the reason I’m the person I am and do everything I do.' He noted that his father was a colonel in the army and a military attaché, which brought the family to England when Barnes was 13. His mother’s family, the Renileate Family, started the first Jamaican government.
