We were hoping today’s post would be a tribute to England’s great triumph over Germany. We were prepared to scour YouTube for the best (or worst) English football chants we could find, like the controversial crowd favorites “Ten German Bombers” and “Two World Wars, One World Cup”. But not even a stadium full of rousing anti-Deutschland chants could save England during the match this past weekend.

Instead of dwelling on the past or arguing over missed goals, today’s post is dedicated to our German friends. It’s an inspiring story about a German pop song, a parody football song, and a few lucky university students who landed a record deal.

It all started back in May, when 19-year-old singer Lena Meyer-Landrut won the Eurovision Song Contest for Germany. With over 18 million YouTube hits, her song “Satellite” has become an über-hit:

Not long after the Lena phenomenon, some clever university students wrote new lyrics to the song in honor of the German football team, and recorded “Schland o Schland”:

Their music video went viral and was hastily removed by EMI, the rights holders of the original song. But it wasn’t long before Lena’s label, Universal Music, saw the potential for this song and struck a deal with this new “band”, Uwu Lena (after the German football star Uwu Seeler and Lena).

“Schland o Schland” has become a fresh new football anthem, but will the band’s fame last beyond 15 minutes? They’re probably just hoping Germany stays in this World Cup as long as possible…

Charlie McCarron
twitter.com/soundlounge

Special thanks to Spiegel Online for their coverage of this story.