Hymn of hope tops pops after 22 yrs

Press, 3 July 1985, Page 41

Hymn of hope tops pops after 22 yrs

AAP London English soccer is going through possibly the most emotionally trying period of its existence. So it seems only fitting that one of football's most emotional anthems should be back in the limelight. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” is No. 1 on the British pop charts, 22 years after it first became a hit. A song that seems to sum up the spirit of the true football fan, it has been rerecorded by a group calling itself The Crowd. The project was designed to generate money for the Bradford City fire appeal, but no sooner had it been conceived than another disaster beset English soccer: Brussels. In the wake of the EuroCup tragedy it is somewhat ironic to consider that the first version of the song was catapulted into the pop charts by a Merseyside band, Gerry and the Pacemakers. The “Gerry” of that band, Gerry Marsden, brought together a rag-bag of personalities for the present record, and it seems to have

struck a chord with the English public. Back in the 60s the song also struck home, giving The Pacemakers its third No. 1 in a row. But it was not so much for the pop chart success as for the terrace success that the song is so renowned. When the song was making its impact on the charts it was obviously a favourite of the ground announcer at Anfield, the home of Liverpool. “They played it at a game about six times and then they all started singing it,” Marsden recalled later; and they haven’t stopped singing it since, round Britain and round Europe, though it won’t be heard now for some years. There can surely be no more emotional an event in the world of football than a packed “Kop” (the devout Liverpool supporters’ end) singing their anthem en masse. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” was not written by Marsden and the concept for the song was as far removed from an English football ground as one could imagine.

In 1909, Ferenc Molnar, a playwright of some fame in Hungary, wrote a play called “Liliom,” about a carnival worker in Budapest who kills himself during a bungled hold-up and is condemned to hell. After 16 years he is allowed to return to Earth for one day to atone for his sins. Not exactly the sort of thing likely to draw the crowds the way “Cats” is doing. But Rodgers and Kammerstein took the play, shifted the plot to New England in 1945, wrote a few songs and then changed the name of the show to “Carousel.” The resulting musical ran on Broadway for more than two years before becoming a feature film in 1956. It was one of that show’s songs that Gerry and the Pacemakers turned into a hit. However, Gerry and his mates were not the only ones to cover the song. Elvis, Patti Laßelle and the Bluebells and Brooklyn Bridge all had versions. Now Marsden has once again resumed his affair

with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s hymn of hope. He and The Crowd have done much to give it back its original dignity. Marsden has said he hopes the song can not only raise money for Bradford, but also prove to the mass of soccer-knockers that Anfield fans, together with those of other English clubs, can be as caring as any in the world. There is no doubt that the real fans do care, and for them the Liverpool anthem will be even more poignant.