You'll Never Walk Alone

For other uses, see You'll Never Walk Alone.

"You'll Never Walk Alone"
Song
Language	English
Composer(s)	Richard Rodgers
Lyricist(s)	Oscar Hammerstein II

"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Carousel.

In the musical, in the second act, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the female protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the male lead, has killed himself after a failed robbery. It is reprised in the final scene to encourage a graduation class of which Louise (their daughter) is a member. Billy attends this ceremony during his return to earth and inspires them with his words of encouragement to assure them of his love.

Background

Christine Johnson, who created the role of Nettie first introduced the song in the original Broadway production, and later Jan Clayton as Julie Jordan reprises it at the end with the chorus joining in. In the film it is sung by Claramae Turner as Nettie (although the weeping Shirley Jones (as Julie) first tries to sing it, but cannot), and later reprised by Ms. Jones and a chorus.

Because the song is included during the graduation finale of the musical, it has become a standard, sung by graduation classes in the United States.

The song is also sung at football clubs around the world, where it is performed by a massed chorus of supporters on matchday; this tradition began at Liverpool F.C. in the early 1960s and later spread to several other clubs.

Besides the recordings of the song on the Carousel cast albums and the film soundtrack, the song has been recorded by many artists as listed below, with notable hit versions made by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Elvis Presley, and Johnny Cash.

Sporting anthem

Shankly Gates

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. 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."

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. The song was first adopted by the Scottish teams Hibernian and Celtic and Dutch teams Feyenoord and FC Twente.

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.

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.

Television, film, and radio

• The Pink Floyd song "Fearless", from their 1971 Meddle album, includes a recording of the Liverpool Kop singing "You'll Never Walk Alone". The recording is repeated many times during the song and appears solely as a conclusion at the end of the track.

• The song itself is referenced in Franz Ferdinand's song "L. Wells".

• The Mario Lanza version is also played during the closing credits of the Peter Jackson film Heavenly Creatures.

• In 2001, Barbra Streisand performed the song on the Emmy Awards in tribute to the victims of the 11 September attacks.

• In the summer of 2006, Aoife Mulholland performed her rendition on the British reality TV show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria (the winner getting to play the part of Maria von Trapp in The Sound Of Music). Her emotional performance in rehearsals had apparently brought tears to Andrew Lloyd Webber's eyes. Her performance on the live show began well but half way through the song, Aoife herself was overwhelmed by the lyrics, causing her voice to crack. However, the panel agreed that her performance was "good".

• On 16 December, 2006, 18-year-old Ray Quinn performed the song on The X Factor UK's semi final, in which he was competing against Leona Lewis. Ray said the song meant a lot to him and was a way of showing his appreciation to his supporters from his home town, Liverpool. The end of the performance received a standing ovation; Ray himself also broke down as the song had meant a lot to him. Mentor Simon Cowell said the performance was an assurance that Ray "had not let him down".

• On April 24, 2007, 17-year-old Jordin Sparks (who also won that season's competition) performed the song on American Idol's first Idol Gives Back episode.

• The song, performed by Lesley Garrett and 2008 West End cast of "Carousel" was featured as interval act of Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 on September 6, 2008.

Lyrics

When you walk through a storm hold your head up high,
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of a 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, ever walk alone.
(repeat last 3 lines)

Recorded versions

• Frank Sinatra (1945) (1963)
• Mario Lanza (1950)
• Roy Hamilton (1954)
• Louis Armstrong (1954) in a medley with Tenderly
• Claramae Turner on the Carousel film soundtrack (1956)
• Perry Como (1956)
• Adicts
• Shirley Bassey (1962)
• Doris Day (on the album of the same name) (1962)
• Gerry and the Pacemakers (1963)
• Ray Charles (1963)
• Patti Labelle & The Blue Belles (1964)
• The Righteous Brothers (1965)
• Elvis Presley (1968)
• Tom Jones (1969)
• Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge (1969)
• Aretha Franklin (1972)
• Lee Towers (1976)
• Frankie Vaughan (1979)
• Kiri Te Kanawa with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (1990) - Songs of Inspiration
• Smoking Popes
• Bryn Terfel (1996) - Something Wonderful: Bryn Terfel Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein
• The Three Tenors (1998)
• Die Toten Hosen (2002)
• Johnny Cash (2003)
• Renée Fleming (2003)
• Alicia Keys (Hurricane Katrina Relief) (2005)