Barnes says only six England players attended the session in Marlow: himself, Paul Gascoigne, Peter Beardsley, Steve McMahon, Chris Waddle and Des Walker. Most of the squad, he recalls, chose a pub rather than another football-song recording.
Their reluctance had a history. The previous England effort, made for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, had reportedly left the players expecting another awkward single. Barnes says they also did not know that members of New Order would be involved when Bobby Robson sent them to the studio.
That changed the mood. The players discovered Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner were part of the project, alongside actor Keith Allen, while Barnes delivered the rap that became one of the track’s defining moments.
The irony is that the players who stayed away missed the creation of one of England’s most enduring football songs. *World in Motion* escaped the usual fate of tournament records because it sounded like a genuine pop release rather than a novelty built around a squad chant.
Barnes’s recollection captures the strange chemistry behind it. A small group turned up without knowing quite what awaited them, while the majority dismissed the opportunity before hearing the finished idea. The “frauds” remark is funny, but it also reflects the competitive memory of an England dressing room: being absent matters when the gamble pays off.
Barnes also used the reflection to discuss the people behind his football career. He credits his parents with shaping both the player and the person he became, saying their guidance continues to influence his life. His children, he adds, remain his main priority.
That gives the anecdote a wider meaning. Behind the famous rap and the World Cup nostalgia is a reminder that Barnes’s story was formed by family values as much as football.
The next England anthem may never match *World in Motion*, but Barnes’s story ensures the session itself will remain part of the song’s mythology.