You'll Never Walk Alone: Difference between revisions
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*[[Japan]]: [[F.C. Tokyo]]. |
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*[[Italy]]: [[AC Milan]] |
*[[Italy]]: [[AC Milan]] |
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*[[Scotland]]: [[Celtic Football Club|Celtic]] |
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Revision as of 04:08, 24 December 2006
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a song written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for their 1945 musical, Carousel. It was sung in the original show by Christine Johnson and later Jan Clayton with chorus. It is sung in the movie by Claramae Turner (although the weeping Shirley Jones first tries to sing it, but cannot), and later reprised by Ms. Jones and a chorus.
In the musical, the song is sung after the death of the lead, Billy Bigelow, to give courage to Julie Jordan, pregnant with child at the time, and is reprised in the final scene to encourage a graduation class of which Louise (their daughter) is a member. As a result, it has become a standard, sung by graduation classes in the United States.
The song's popularity arose during the original Broadway production because of World War II, where many members of the audience had husbands, brothers, boyfriends or fiancés at war overseas, which led to solace in the song's message. The powerful words and melody attest to the fact that there is always guidance and friendship from that which made us in loving kindness.
The song was recorded by many artists, first charting in 1945 in a version by Frank Sinatra (#9 on the Billboard charts). Patti LaBelle and the BlueBelles had a #34 charting version in 1964. Elvis Presley's version got to #90 in 1968.
Inspirational Sports Anthem
In England, the song's most famous outing was recorded in the early 1960s by Liverpool Merseybeat group Gerry & the Pacemakers, which reached #1 in the UK charts on the 26th October 1963 where it stayed for 4 weeks. It quickly became the club anthem of Liverpool Football Club [1] and is invariably sung by its supporters moments before the start of the game [2]. The words You'll Never Walk Alone feature in the club crest. In recent years the fans of various other clubs have attempted to claim that they sang it first, but it appears that Liverpool has the much stronger claims [3]. In Scotland the song was later adopted as the anthem of Glasgow football club Celtic F.C.
The song is also sung by other association football crowds, where it is sung variably, such as:
- England: Ipswich Town
- Austria: Rapid Vienna
- Netherlands: Feyenoord Rotterdam, Ajax Amsterdam, FC Twente.
- Germany: Borussia Dortmund, Alemannia Aachen, FC St. Pauli.
- Greece: AEK Athens FC (AEK fans adopted a Greek version of the song}
- Japan: F.C. Tokyo.
- Italy: AC Milan
The Pink Floyd song "Fearless", from their 1971 Meddle album, includes a recording of the Liverpool Kop singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" at the end of the track.
The song also reached #1 in the UK charts in June 1985 for 2 weeks, a charity record, following the Valley Parade fire at Bradford City on 11 May 1985. The song was performed by The Crowd (including Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney and Rolf Harris). [4].
The piece is also played by the University of North Texas Green Brigade Marching Band at the end of every football game. The lights within Fouts Field are cut to total darkness as the players and fans walk onto the field and stand in front of the band. The song's title has become a saying on the campus, representing the unity of not only the band, but of the fans and students of the university.
Other Performances & Recordings
An operatic version by José Carreras, Plácido Domingo & Luciano Pavarotti with Mehta, reached number 21 in the UK charts in July 1998.
In 1999, it was performed by John Farnham, who made his first release of the song in 1972, at the Tour Of Duty Concert in Dili, East Timor, for the Australian peace-keeping troops.
It is also played by the Western Illinois University Marching Leathernecks at the end of every performance. The band faces each other in a large circle with a quartet in the centre. The members play and sing "Never Walk" as reminder of the strength of the bond between members. This tradition was started by the late Dale Hopper during the 1970's.
The song is sung by the members of the Desert Vista Thunder Marching Band after every performance. The late Eric Holden (Band Director 1996-2002) started this tradition.
It is also the corps song of the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps and is sung by Jerry Lewis at the end of his annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Television, Film & radio
The song was sung in the BBC radio show The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Eddie, the shipboard computer.
The Mario Lanza version is also played during the closing credits of the Peter Jackson film Heavenly Creatures.
Recorded versions
References
- ^ You’ll Never Walk Alone, LiverpoolFC.tv
- ^ YNWA, Google Video, Liverpool against Chelsea, 2005
- ^ "Liverpool or Celtic: who Walked Alone first?". The Guardian. 2003-03-12. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Bradford remembers fire disaster, BBC Sport, 11 May 2005