World in Motion

The Football Association Press Officer at the time, David Bloomfield, who had been a fan of Joy Division, contacted Tony Wilson, the head of New Order's label Factory Records, with the suggestion that the band record a track for the forthcoming World Cup in Italy. Without any hesitation, Wilson agreed. Bloomfield had seen and heard England's previous World Cup tunes and thought them uniformly dull, with the possible exception of the 1970 single, "Back Home".

Bloomfield had been inspired by a track by Colourbox called "The Official Colourbox World Cup Theme", and he had noticed that the respected BBC Radio DJ John Peel occasionally played tracks by American football teams, deeming them good enough to play on his show without a hint of irony.

Watching television one night, Bloomfield found himself watching Best and Marsh, a concoction of football chat and action clips. When the credits ran at the end of the programme, he noticed that the theme music was provided by New Order. In a eureka-like moment, he knew in an instant that he needed to contact Wilson and get the ball rolling.

There was a bit of a stand off between the agent acting on behalf of the England squad and Wilson with Bloomfield acting to get the parties talking once more. The players were by no means all willing to get involved. They were of the view that World Cup records were all dire and many didn't want to be associated with a band that few of them were familiar with. Gary Lineker was an absentee, not wishing to add his support to the official track because he was working on his own World Cup single, the poorly received "If we win it all".

A rap is performed by England player John Barnes towards the end of the track. Barnes was selected to perform the rap, after a contest with other players including Peter Beardsley, Paul Gascoigne, and Chris Waddle.[7] The rap was improvised on the spot with Liverpool's Craig Johnston, who was not involved in the England set up in any way, penning the rap on a scrap of paper. The sleeve credits Barnes, Beardsley, Gascoigne, Waddle, Steve McMahon and Des Walker as providing vocals, though the entire squad is seen miming to the refrain in the video.

The rap is the most remembered part of the original song, becoming an iconic piece of English football culture in its own right, familiar to subsequent generations of England football fans not even born in 1990.[8]

The single's B-side, an early version of the A-side, was titled "The B-Side", extending the football theme of the release. It was produced by former Swans member Roli Mosimann. Besides a different arrangement and some different lyrics, this version lacks the commentary samples and squad vocals, with Keith Allen's "naff football chants and JB impersonation" (as credited on the sleeve) in their place.

Like "True Faith", "Fine Time" and "Round & Round" before it, the single was issued on two separate 12" singles, the first featuring the original mix of the song, the second containing reinterpretations by outside remixers. This would be the last New Order single released in this way. Remixers Andrew Weatherall and Terry Farley were supplied with an alternative chorus vocal, with the result that the chorus hook on their mixes runs "We've got the world in motion" rather than the original "Love's got the world in motion".

In 1996, LFO's Mark Bell remixed version of the song appeared on The Beautiful Game, which was released to tie in with Euro 96.

In 2010, one reworked version of the song was used in an advert for the Mars Bar.[9] The A side features heavily in the film Butterfly Kiss; both the song itself is heard as well as the two main actresses singing versions of it.

The single was re-released for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, this time with the track "Such a Good Thing" replacing "The B-Side". It failed to enter the UK Top 40. This version was planned to have David Beckham performing the rap, but the F.A. vetoed the idea.[10] It was due to have been re-released again in remixed form for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, but despite a release date in the United Kingdom of 29 May 2006, an last minute decision was taken to shelve this release, and the remix has never surfaced. "Such a Good Thing" would be the final original New Order song to be released as a B-side, with all following singles simply including alternate mixes of the A-side and/or previously released tracks (typically in a remixed form).

In 1998, New Order performed the song live for the first time at the Reading Festival with Allen. In the interim time Allen had written another England football song, the unofficial release "Vindaloo". Allen performed it with the band again at the Move Festival at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground in 2002,[11] and in 2005 at Glastonbury.