|
"You'll Never Walk Alone" - The song, the fans, the facts |
|
|
|
 Football News: "You'll Never Walk Alone" remains the most famous football song sung by fans across the world. But who sang it first and when?
Liverpool and Celtic fans still argue the point to this day, but the evidence points to the Kop of Anfield.
"You'll Never Walk Alone" was written and recorded by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein for the hit musical, Carousel, in 1945. The song became a favourite at schools across America and went on to be recorded by some of music's greatest stars including Frank Sinatra (1945), Judy Garland (1946), Nina Simone (1959), and Elvis Presley (1968).
But the version that is best known in the football world was recorded by Liverpool Mersey Beat band Gerry and the Pacemakers in 1963.
It was around this time that football chanting as we know it today was just starting on terraces across the country. Televised coverage of the 1962 World Cup in Brazil introduced fans to the songs and chanting that were already common in South America, including: "Brazil-cha-cha-cha".
Liverpool fans picked up on this chant at the first home game of the 1962-63 season - Liverpool's first back in the old First Division - when a chorus of "Liverpool - clap, clap, clap" went round the ground.
Throughout the 1962-63 season the Kop would regularly sing local Mersey Beat and Beatles songs before and during the game. When Gerry and the Pacemakers' version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" reached Number One in 1963 it was quickly picked up and sung by the Kop.
In 1964 a BBC Panorama programme filmed the Kop singing the song, along with other Beatles tributes, as part of a programme on football, fans and chanting.
Fans of Celtic insist the song was first sung at Celtic Park but there is little evidence to back up the claim.
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is the fans' anthem at clubs across Europe, including Rapid Vienna, Ajax, Feyenoord, Borussia Dortmund and AEK Athens. (Sportasylum).
|
