History of the most beautiful football song
November 5, 2020
“You’ll never walk alone” song has been sung for more than half a century! Every Liverpool match starts with this song, but you can also hear it in other world stadiums such as Borussia Dortmund.
This song belongs to the whole football world!
And what is its story?
The song was created by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II in 1945 for the American musical “Carousel” to encourage those whose loved ones (husbands, sons or fathers) didn’t return home after the World War II. At that time, the song was sung by such music legends as Elvis Presley.
In 1963, the song debuted at the football stadium after Gerry Marsden and his band Gerry And The Pacemakers created their version of the song. Then the word was spread about the cultural phenomenon in the football stadium- several thousand fans were able to sing evenly and fit the words of the old song into a new melody!
How did the song come to Liverpool?
As for the answer to this question, there are two theories:
- Garry Marsden presented the song to Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, who was delighted with the song and the news was spread around the world that it was The Reds’ new anthem. Tommy Smith, a former Liverpool player, presented this version of events.
- The second theory is that Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium was one of the few to have a sound system and the most popular songs on the charts were play before matches. It was at that time that the Beatles and Garry And The Pacemakers with the song “You’ll never walk alone” dominated. Since this song was No.1 therefore was played exceptionally often in the stadium, it became a distinctive melody for this place, and the fans quickly learned the text. When the song fell off the charts, fans began to demand “their song.”
A song that gives power
In 2005, Liverpool was losing 0–3 to AC Milan in the Champions League final. Still, The Reds’ fans didn’t lose hope and started singing the song “You’ll never walk alone.” As a result, motivated Liverpool players beat AC Milan and won the Champions League Cup! When asked who has the best fans in the world, the Milan’s coach replied:
“In my opinion Liverpool. When the fans sing this song… I don’t know English well, but then your skin becomes… it’s really hard to describe.”
Another time, when Loris Karius deprived Liverpool of a chance to win the Champions League, not fans but other players chanted for him “You’ll never walk alone.” The same thing happened to Jerzy Dudek when he didn’t defend the goal against the Manchester United’s striker. While going down to the bench reserve fans instead of whistling sang him the song!
Currently, the song is also the anthem of Scottish Celtic Glasgow and German St. Pauli but fans say that this anthem never sounds like it does at Anfield Road!
Football tragedies and "You'll never walk alone"
The song is also a football mourning song… In 1985, a grandstand collapsed in Bradford killing 55 people. After the tragedy, Gerry Marsden recorded a new version of the song and donated the total proceeds to the families of the victims. And the income wasn’t small, because it was the best-selling single of the year!
Less than four years later, Liverpool’s 96 supporters were crushed to death by a crowd of fans. The tragedy occurred in the 6th minute of the match, which is why in many European competitions 6 minutes of the match was interrupted and the song “You’ll never walk alone” was played to the memory of victims. Three years later, it was decided to put the words of this unique song on the club’s coat of arms and the gate leading to Anfield Road.
Any other football song is so recognizable!
Sources: igol.pl, kolumnasportowa.com