The world of musical theatre seemed a very long way from Anfield Football Stadium in Liverpool. So how did a big, wonderful song from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s show Carousel (1945) end up as a football anthem? You’ll Never Walk Alone began life on Broadway, used in Carousel to comfort and encourage a suffering character.
First released in 1945, Gerry and the Pacemakers adapted YNWA in 1963 to a song of their own, which has since taken on a life much bigger than the band could have ever imagined. Today it is the most special supporters’ anthem in the game. It is belted out at the home ground by c40,000 fans before every home game in a powerful spectacle.
The song was an instant hit; its message of triumph in hard times spoke to the wartime crowds of Ap 1945, just before WW2 ended. It remained popular throughout the ’50s and then in 1963, a version of the song was performed by Liverpool’s musician Gerry Marsden, lead singer of Gerry and the Pacemakers. The recording by this Merseybeat band brought the song to Liverpool FC! Thus the thrilling song has been sung at the games at Anfield since 1963. Apart from Marsden being a huge Liverpool fan himself, there are some other reasons why the song appealed.
Jerry and the Pacemakers turned the song into a single that entered the charts across the UK in Oct 1963. It stayed there for some months, topping the charts for 4 weeks and was a huge hit with Liverpool fans.
Marsden gave famous Liverpool manager Bill Shankly a copy of the song during Liverpool’s tour of the U.S in 1964. After the band and Liverpool FC all appeared on the Ed Sullivan show to sing You Never Walk Alone, Shankly was excited by the song’s power. He decided to make it Liverpool’s formal club anthem. Given it so suited the spirit of Liverpool FC and its fans, it became much more than a song!
Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium was one of the first footy grounds to have a PA system and a DJ in the grounds. In Liverpool’s musical prime, the DJ played the Top 10 UK hits over the sound system. This was when Liverpool bands like The Beatles and The Merseybeats dominated the charts, so the fans re-heard their beloved groups. You’ll Never Walk Alone/YNWA stayed at #1 in the charts for 4 weeks in 1963, by which time it became Liverpool FC’s signature tune.
With music being such a pivotal part of Liverpool’s culture, the music was played over the public address system at Anfield with the Kop/fans’ grandstand singing along. In the weeks that their anthem was at #1, the Kop wanted it played as the players ran out. Fittingly Liverpool won the League’s 1963-64 season and their song was carved into football history forever.
Players, staff and fans of Liverpool were suffering through very tough times, on and off the field! Clearly the motivating effect of all those fans singing YNWA together gave the players hope in grim times. This small act of defiance in front of adversity galvanised the Liverpool team, and they managed to win unexpected matches. When asked which club had the most avid fans, even foreigners said Liverpool fans. When they sing a song they come together in unity.
The song absorbed a much more tragic meaning after the Hillsborough Disaster 1989, when a human crush at the stadium in Sheffield left 96 fans dead and hundreds more were injured. After the Hillsborough tragedy, 13,000 people assembled at Liverpool’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, in the church and outside. You’ll Never Walk Alone was sung by a lone choir boy, offering comfort to the city in mourning.
Following the Hillsborough disaster, Liverpool’s club anthem took on a whole new significance. It has become the soundtrack of hope for the club, its fans and for Liverpool City through extremely tough times. It signified Liverpool’s fight for justice for their fans and it supported the families of those killed at Hillsborough that they’d never be alone.
The lyrics eventually found a permanent home at Anfield, fixed in wrought iron above the gates of the Anfield Stadium - a permanent reminder to fans that football was not just sport; it was family.
Alongside Liverpool, Celtic and Borussia Dortmund are the two clubs famous for using YNWA as the club anthem. It was after Liverpool’s clash against Celtic in the 1966 European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-finals that led to the Scottish side adopting it as their own amazing song. For Borussia Dortmund, the use of YNWA pre match originates from the band Pur Harmony, who did a cover version of Gerry and the Pacemakers. Much later YNWA was heard in Liverpool when they hosted Borussia Dortmund at Anfield in the Europa League. Fans all raised their scarves in the air, with the Anfield crowd then taking over the song as the music was cut from the speakers, leaving just the two sets of voices.
Although undoubtedly not the reason for YNWA’s initial popularity across football grounds, it is fitting for a club like Liverpool, with the city’s resilience after the tragic Hillsborough disaster, that the song’s message was one of unity and determination. So I think this anthem will always truly belong to Liverpool Football Club. I remember every word, even today.
Thank you to Ben Marsden in FourFourTwo and Joe Prince-Wright in nbcsports. And to Youtube for the music.
When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm, there’s a golden sky
And the sweet, silver song of a lark
Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Alhough your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
.jpg)
28 comments:
It certainly is a beautiful song and I remember it well from wayback.
The lyrics can be used for a few occasions.
I grew up in Sydney in the 1960s when we played rugby. But I can never remember hearing men singing in public... Just screaming at opponents and refs.
It's a great song, dear Helen!
Loved reading Online Digitizing
Your account is both informative and moving, reminding us that football is more than just a game
What a powerful piece! The journey of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Broadway to becoming the heartbeat of Liverpool Football Club is truly inspiring. It’s incredible how a song can evolve from a musical number to a profound anthem of unity and hope, especially in the face of adversity. The way you described the emotional connection it creates among fans and players alike really captures the essence of what football represents to so many.
The significance it gained after the Hillsborough disaster is particularly touching, showcasing how music can bring communities together during the toughest times. Your insights into Liverpool's rich musical culture and the passion of its fans really highlight why this anthem is so special. Thank you for sharing this fascinating history!
You are invited to read my new blog post: https://www.melodyjacob.com/2025/02/our-pre-valentine-visit-to-pitlochry.html
Lot of people.
Margaret
Every year in the 1960s we did one musical performance at my school eg Gilbert and Sullivan, Rodgers and Hammerstein and the Gershwins. So I also remember a lot of the songs from those days. And Gerry and the Pacemakers probably had a great impact on my musical memory than a British football club back then.
Joe
Was it likely that rugby was seen as more working class, more physically brutal and more macho than soccer? If so, perhaps Sydney rugby fans would have been less prepared to sing emotional songs en masse, wear attractive colours and wave scarves in an organised pattern.
Irina
The music is still excellent, all these decades later yes!
And the more thousands of people singing together, the more sublime the music sounds.
William
do you have Liverpool patterns? Do people still like wearing them?
roentare
I had never thought of football being more than a game in Australia until I started barracking for my club (Melbourne) in the 1950s. Everything became personal; winning and losing of course, but when Ron Barassi left Melbourne for Carlton in 1964, we had a memorial service with lots of tears.
Melody
I agree that it was incredible how a song evolved from a musical number to an emotional anthem of hope. I never lived in the UK before the 1970s and had no idea about the emotional connection it created among fans, but it was a wonderful lesson for this Australian.
Thank you for the url of your new blog post. I will have a good look tonight after dinner.
peppy
one of the joys of blogging is meeting lots of new people and finding new histories :)
I'm pleased to learn the history and what it means to the club, although I did know about the Hillsborough disaster, and what the police and media did in the aftermath.
Andrew
I also remembered the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster in bloody detail; it was so horrific. But Hillsborough was next to Sheffield so I had no idea why Liverpool was involved.
As it turned out, 10,000+ Liverpool fans were late getting into the game via the turnstiles allocated to Liverpudlians and attempted to enter the stadium all at the same time. A fatal crush occurred, killing and hospitalising c850 fans. What a nightmare.
I remember liking this song a lot when I was much younger and it's still good now. I didn't know it was a remake though, nice to learn something new about it.
Strange that you write this in Australia. But you did and I read it. We may say footy sometimes but would not say footy grounds. I am surprised one of your readers had not heard about Hillsborough. The police let the fans in at Hillsborough and failed to control entry. They knew the area was already full. It was a very important FA Cup game.
River
Me too. There were heaps of great songs in the 1960s, songs that made our generation very memorable. But how many pop songs, even good ones, attached themselves to a "cause" that still motivates people nearly three generations later. When the crowd starts repeating "walk on.. walk on" for the second time loudly, it is still as emotional as ever.
Rachel
I lived in Australia till I graduated university, got married and moved to Europe. We had Australian football, rugby and soccer here, in that order of popularity. So when first son was born in the UK, I had to learn soccer rules from the ground up.
By the way I loved my years in Europe :)
Dear Helen, finally I managed to get your Blog into an appropriate place in my blog list - hurray!!!
Britta
Well done! I am still having computer problems that only my grandchildren can sort out. But they don't tell me what to do, even if I face the same problem a week later.
Do you follow football? Are you familiar with the music in this post?
Thank you for this post. I was fascinated to read more about the connection between the song and Liverpool. I was a student in the city when the Hillsborough disaster occurred and sadly remember it well. The song still brings tears to my eyes.
Lisa
The song is full of hope and unity, despite life turning out to be full of misery. And as Liverpool's history was often thought of working class, and the Football Club even more working class, the citizens probably hoped the song was written specially for them. I still cry too
Gerry & the Pacemakers also sang 'Ferry Cross the Mersey'. When I invited my friend Jane to Liverpool in 1993, I spent the whole of her last day trying to get her to go on the ferry. At the end of the day, I put her back on the coach and remarked that I couldn't believe she hadn't taken the chance to go on the ferry cross the Mersey. She hadn't made the connection and was appropriately mortified
Mandy
Thank you Gerry and the Pacemakers :)
Sometimes we don't even remember where our emotional values came from. "Ferry Cross the Mersey" was released way back in 1964, but I remember the words and music very well :)
So ferry 'cross the Mersey
'Cause this land's the place I love
And here I'll stay
And here I'll stay
Here I'll stay
Hardly anybody knows that Oscar Hammerstein wrote the words to thus song so I thank you for mentioning this at the beginning of your post! I had written about this song on my blog but I didn't have as much knowledge about Liverpool as you do, so I really loved this! Oscar Hammerstein is a hero of mine, a marvelous man! Look him up, you will agree with me, I promise!
Kay
We did Carousel at school and the music was very familiar!
But I only lived in the UK for a few years, and the song had such an amazing impact, I brought it home to Australia with us and sang along whenever I watched a European football crowd sing it :)
Post a Comment