"You'll Never Walk Alone"

el-capitano · Nov 25, 2008

In England, the song's most successful performance was recorded in 1963 by the Liverpudlian Merseybeat group Gerry and the Pacemakers (peaking at number one in the singles chart for four consecutive weeks). It quickly became the anthem of Liverpool Football Club and is invariably sung by its supporters moments before the start of each home game.[2][3] The words "You'll Never Walk Alone" also feature in the club crest and on the Shankly Gate entrance to the stadium.

According to former player Tommy Smith, Gerry Marsden presented Liverpool manager Bill Shankly with a recording of his upcoming cover single during a pre-season coach trip in the summer of 1963. "Shanks was in awe of what he [had] heard. [...] Football writers from the local newspapers were travelling with our party and, thirsty for a story of any kind between games, filed copy back to their editors to the effect that we had adopted Gerry Marsden's forthcoming single as the club song."[4]

Marsden himself told BBC Radio how, in the nineteen-sixties, the deejay at Anfield would play the top-ten commercial records in ascending order, with the number one single transmitted last, shortly before kickoff. Supporters standing on the Spion Kop terrace would sing along, but once "You'll Never Walk Alone" dropped out of the top-ten, says Marsden, they continued to sing it.[5][6] The song was later adopted by the Scottish teams Hibernian and Celtic[3] and Dutch teams Feyenoord and FC Twente.[7]

A special recording of the song was made in solidarity with Bradford City following the Valley Parade fire in 1985, when 56 fans died and many more were injured. The song was performed by The Crowd (featuring Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney and Rolf Harris).

In April 1989, a few days after the Hillsborough Disaster resulted in the deaths of 96 fans of Liverpool F.C., a European Cup semi-final between A.C. Milan and Real Madrid was played. The match official blew his whistle 6 minutes into the game to stop play (the game at Hillsborough stadium had been stopped at 3:06) and hold a minute's silence. Approximately 20 seconds into the silence, the Milan fans began to sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" as a tribute to those who died.[8]

Some years later, after witnessing a rousing rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" at Anfield in 2007, the President of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, said he felt inspired to seek lyrics to his country's wordless national anthem, the Royal March, ahead of Madrid's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You'll_Never_Walk_Alone_(song)

el-capitano · Nov 25, 2008

[ame="http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=0nfFi-_Hb2A"]YouTube - You'll Never Walk Alone. Liverpool[/ame]

el-capitano · Nov 25, 2008

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
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Tho' 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

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/lfc_story/classics/1.htm

Ghostface · Nov 26, 2008

The aforementioned minute of silience. Great tribute from the Milan fans.

[youtube]5ZrVfMRyoE0[/youtube]