"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the male lead, stabs himself with a knife whilst trying to run away after attempting a robbery with his mate Jigger and dies in her arms. The song is reprised as an epilogue in the final scene to encourage a graduation class of which Louise (Billy and Julie's daughter) is a member as the Starkeeper is about to give them a graduation sermon. The now invisible Billy, who has been granted the chance to return to Earth for one day in order to redeem himself, watches the ceremony and at the end of the Starkeeper's homily is able to silently motivate Louise and Julie to join in with the song as the whole congregation unite in singing along with them urged on by the Starkeeper as he ascends to paradise.
The song is also sung at association football clubs around the world, where it is performed by a massed chorus of supporters on match day; this tradition developed at Liverpool F.C. after the chart success of the 1963 single of the song by the local Liverpool group Gerry and the Pacemakers.[1] In some areas of the United Kingdom and Europe, "You'll Never Walk Alone" became the anthem of support for medical staff, first responders, and those in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The composition is sometimes treated by performers as a religious song, such as with the 1967 version by Elvis Presley, which was featured on several of his gospel albums.
Background
Christine Johnson, who created the role of Nettie Fowler, introduced the song in the original Broadway production.[3] Later in the show Jan Clayton, as Julie Jordan, reprised it, with the entire cast joining in.
In the film, the song was introduced by Claramae Turner as Nettie, also the weeping Julie Jordan (Shirley Jones) tries to sing it but can't; the song is reprised by Julie with the entire cast as the end.
In the UK, the song's most successful cover was released in 1963 by the LiverpudlianMerseybeat group Gerry and the Pacemakers, peaking at number one on the UK Singles Chart for four consecutive weeks.[5] The band's version also reached the top of the charts in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.[6]
Liverpool F.C.
After becoming a chart hit, the song gained popularity among Liverpool F.C. fans, and quickly became the football anthem of the club, which adopted "You'll Never Walk Alone" as its official motto on its coat of arms.[1] The song is sung by its supporters before the start of each home game at Anfield with the Gerry and the Pacemakers version being played over the public address system.[1][7][8] In 2013, the 50th anniversary of the song being sung on the Kop, Simon Hart of The Independent wrote,
Five decades on, the pre-match, scarfs-raised, sing-it-loud ritual is as much a part of Liverpool's fabric as their red shirts, its words written in wrought iron on the gates of their stadium.[1]
According to former player Tommy Smith, lead vocalist Gerry Marsden presented Liverpool manager Bill Shankly with a recording of his forthcoming cover single during a pre-season coach trip in the summer of 1963. "Shanks was in awe of what he 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."[9] The squad were subsequently invited to perform the track with the band on The Ed Sullivan Show with Marsden stating, "Bill came up to me. He said, 'Gerry my son, I have given you a football team and you have given us a song'."[1]
Liverpool fans on the Kop prior to a game with scarfs raised while singing "You'll Never Walk Alone"
Shankly picked the song as his eighth and final selection for the BBC's Desert Island Discs on the eve of the 1965 FA Cup Final.[10] As Liverpool fans sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" at Wembley during the 1965 FA Cup Final win over Leeds, commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme referred to it as "Liverpool's signature tune".[11] Marsden told BBC Radio how, in the 1960s, the disc jockey at Anfield would play the top 10 commercial records in descending order, with the number one single played last, shortly before kickoff. Liverpool fans on the Kop would sing along, but unlike with other hit singles, once "You'll Never Walk Alone" dropped out of the top 10, instead of disregarding the song, supporters—chanting 'Where's our song?'—continued to sing it.[12][13][14] In retirement, according to his granddaughter Karen Gill, Shankly would get out the gramophone and "put the record on and play it, so we would hear it in the house."[1]
The 'Shankly Gates' entrance to Liverpool's home stadium Anfield
There's not one club in Europe with an anthem like "You'll Never Walk Alone." There's not one club in the world so united with the fans. I sat there watching the Liverpool fans and they sent shivers down my spine. A mass of 40,000 people became one force behind their team.
In his commentary on the memorial service following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, Peter Jones recited the lyrics, which were then sung by a cathedral choir. Aretha Franklin's recording of the song was played by BBC Radio 1 DJ and Liverpool fan John Peel in his first show following the disaster.[16] In 2019, during a Take That concert at Anfield, Gerry Marsden made a guest appearance to sing the song with Gary Barlow.[17] Reflecting on 60 years of YNWA as the club's anthem, in 2023 Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp stated, "Simple but powerful lyrics, a real message. Some things have changed since then [the 1960s] but obviously what it means to the people has never changed."[14]
In 1995, the Gerry and the Pacemakers version peaked at number 34 on the Dutch Single Top 100 on the week ending March 18[18] and number 24 on the Dutch Top 40 on the week ending April 1.[19] It re-entered the Irish Singles Chart in 2012, peaking at number four on the week ending September 20.[6]
Other teams
"It was subsequently adopted by Celtic fans, after a 1966 Cup Winners' Cup semi-final at Anfield, and is sung today by fans of Borussia Dortmund and several other clubs, but 'YNWA' remains enduringly and indelibly linked with Liverpool."
The song was adopted by Scottish team Celtic after a 1966 Cup Winners' Cup semi-final against Liverpool at Anfield, and is now sung by Celtic fans prior to every home European tie,[1][11][20] and later by Germany's Borussia Dortmund, which Liverpool went on to play in the cup final.[1] When Celtic and Liverpool played in the quarterfinals of the 2002-03 UEFA Cup, Gerry Marsden performed the song at Celtic Park before both teams took the field and both sets of fans sang along.[21]
The song has also been adopted by Dutch team FC Twente after it was officially given to them by the Anfield stadium speaker George Sephton during the last game in the Diekman stadium, before moving to the new Arke Stadion.[22] Today, Twente fans sing the song before every home game. Elsewhere in the Netherlands, Feyenoord and SC Cambuur have adopted the song as well, with Feyenoord using the Lee Towers version.
Some years later, after witnessing a 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 Marcha Real, ahead of Madrid's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.[25][26]
On 13 March 2016, after Borussia Dortmund's 2–0 win against 1. FSV Mainz 05 in the German Bundesliga, supporters of both teams performed the song to commemorate a Dortmund fan who died from a cardiac arrest in the stands during the game.[31]
The Crowd version
A special recording of the song was made in solidarity with Bradford City following the Valley Parade fire in 1985 when 56 spectators died and many more were seriously injured. The song was performed by charity supergroupthe Crowd, which featured Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney and others, and spent two weeks at number one in the UK and Ireland in June 1985.[32]
Marcus Mumford, lead singer of the British folk rock band Mumford & Sons, released a cover version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" as a single on March 20, 2020, through Glassnote Records.[53] Mumford's version was originally recorded for the Apple TV+ sports comedy-drama Ted Lasso; it appears in the first-season finale, "The Hope That Kills You."[54] Proceeds from the single release were donated to the Grenfell Foundation and War Child UK.[55]
In April 2020, to mark 99-year old Captain Tom Moore completing the first phase of his fundraising walk during the COVID-19 pandemic, English actor, singer and broadcaster, Michael Ball sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" for him live on BBC Breakfast.[59] Ball said: "It's an extraordinary achievement. I've been trying to think of a song which encapsulates your achievement and what you have done for us." Within 24 hours,[60] the performance was recorded, and made into a digital single featuring the NHS Voices of Care Choir, and Moore's spoken words.[59] It was released by Decca Records[61] on April 17, with all proceeds going to NHS Charities Together. The duo appeared on Zoe Ball's Radio 2 show, where they both performed the song.[62]
Commercial performance
On April 19, 2020, the song went straight to number one in the United Kingdom's "The EE Official Big Top 40" chart, selling almost 36,000 copies in its first 48 hours.[63] On April 21, 2020, the song was the "biggest trending song" as measured by the Official Charts Company.[64] On April 24, 2020, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, with combined chart sales of 82,000 making it the fastest-selling single of 2020 so far and making Moore – six days short of his one hundredth birthday – the oldest person to achieve that position and meaning that he was at number one on his 100th birthday, beating the previous record-holder Tom Jones, who was 68 years old when a Comic Relief rendition of "Islands in the Stream" reached number one in 2009.[65]
American singer Josh Groban covered the song off of his seventh studio album Stages. He also performed the song at the 69th Tony Awards on June 7, 2015 during the In Memoriam segment.[68]
References
^ abcdefghHart, Simon (October 25, 2013). "Anfield's 50 years of never walking alone". The Independent. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved April 6, 2015. Gerry and the Pacemakers' version hit No 1 in October 1963, it was picked up by the Kop and the game's greatest anthem was born
^"Gerry's Datebook". www.britbands.bravepages.com. Archived from the original on August 23, 2018. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
^"Gerry and The Pacemakers". Official Charts. The Official UK Charts Company. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^ ab"The Irish Charts". Archived from the original on April 12, 2009. Retrieved April 25, 2020. Click or tap "Search Charts", and then search for "You'll Never Walk Alone".
^Liverpool vs. Leeds United on YouTube, FA Cup Final, BBC, 1965. "The song was covered by Liverpool group Gerry & The Pacemakers in 1963. At this time, supporters standing on the Spion Kop terrace at Anfield began singing popular chart songs of the day. The mood was captured on camera by a BBC Panorama camera crew in 1964. One year later, when Liverpool faced Leeds in the cup final, the travelling Kop sang the same song, and match commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme commended the 'Liverpool signature tune'." Paul Coslett, "You'll Never Walk Alone"Archived November 27, 2020, at the Wayback Machine. BBC Online. June 9, 2008.
^Smith, Tommy. Anfield Iron, Bantam Press, p. 68-69
