We're on the Ball

"We're on the Ball"
Single by Ant & Dec
from the album The Official Album of the 2002 FIFA World Cup
Released	27 May 2002
Format	CD single DVD single
Recorded	2002
Genre	Pop rock dance-pop pop rap
Length	3:01
Label	Sony Music Entertainment
Writer(s)	Harold Spiro Anthony McPartlin Declan Donnelly
Producer(s)	Mike Hedges
Ant & Dec singles chronology
"Falling" (1997) "We're on the Ball" (2002) "Let's Get Ready to Rhumble" (2013)

"We're on the Ball" is a single by British pop duo Ant & Dec, released in 2002. Their second of three comeback performances since their musical career ended in 1997, and their only studio recording since, "We're on the Ball" is a football song. The song was adapted from a song written by Harold Spiro and was produced and arranged by Mike Hedges.

The song is the England football team's "Official Song" of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.^[1] It features on the album The Official Album of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, released by Epic Records.^[2] The song's lyrics are about the England football team of the time, featuring references to their victory at the World Cup 1966 at their attempts to repeat that success since. It also namechecks the 2002 England football team by surname. The single was re-released digitally in May 2010 to coincide with the World Cup 2010.

It was the duo's first single since their 1997 single "Falling", after which they decided to call time on their pop career and move into TV presenting. They resurrected their musical career for CD:UK in 2000 for a one-off performance of "Let's Get Ready to Rhumble". Their success with that performance lead to "We're on the Ball".

The song entered the UK Singles chart at number 3, beaten by the debut singles from Will Young and Gareth Gates, who were the winner and runner-up of the reality show Pop Idol, which Ant & Dec presented. Thus, it became their highest peaking single at the time, beating 1994's "Let's Get Ready to Rhumble" which only at the time reached number 9.

The music video starts with Ant & Dec eating in a café watching the FIFA World Cup on a television (which is on top of a fridge that bears a sticker-advert for Tizer, who sponsored the music show CD:UK, which Ant & Dec also presented). Dec explains how they "really want to be at the World Cup", but Ant says "it's too expensive", and they would need to disguise themselves as then-England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson and his assistant manager Tord Grip to be at the World Cup. After first laughing it off, the quickly deem it a good idea, they indeed disguise themselves in a K6 red telephone box outside the café (a reference to Superman) and then go to the World Cup. The rest of the video sees them singing in the cafe and in disguise, as well as kicking large inflatable St. George's Flag footballs and, whilst in disguise, managing the England football team, wearing their fake identities on their shirts, which shows Dec's reluctance to be Grip. At the end of the video, the duo are caught by officials.

A previous song with the same name was performed by The Balls Brothers in 1998. This had the same chorus and tune but different verses. Both songs are mainly accredited to the same person as songwriter Harold Spiro. Ant & Dec are also credited as songwriters on their version, writing all parts of the song bar the chorus.

Chart positions

See also

• PJ & Duncan discography
• Tizer
• 2002 FIFA World Cup

References