Music & football have always gone hand-in-hand… whereas singing at US sporting events starts & ends with “Sweet Caroline” (it’s just not macho, now is it?), for 90 minutes in grounds worldwide…it’s a non-stop carousel of pride, togetherness, inspiration & insult comedy.

The Mersey Beat

Liverpool is as famous for its football as it its music (vice versa to your heart’s content my cultured friends). I’ll be sticking mostly to the R&R/ pop version of the Mersey Sound, and it starts with… skiffle! Skiffle was a blend of American jazz, bluegrass, country & American folk music, often played with homemade instruments (washboards, jugs, washtub bass, cigar box banjos in addition to banjos & acoustic guitars). As with most British music to follow, it had its roots in the American South only to be reborn in England (especially in the industrial North). Skiffle can clearly be heard in numerous Beatles songs, in fact, before the Beatles, John was in a skiffle band called the Quarrymen. Recently, I fell into a boss Liverpool band from the 1990s called the La’s & skiffle is all over this track (notice these la’s- short for lads- all geared up in clobber/ gear… Casual, Casual, Casual): https://youtu.be/xh2VLk8LA2o?si=UAGpe1FFgiX5UFJY

From skiffle, it’s a mere hop-skip & a jump to the Beatles…I won’t get into who was Red & who was Blue…ok, I will: for all intents & purposes, John didn’t like the footy so likely didn’t care; word on the street is that Paul is a BlueNose; never heard either way about our boy George & Ringo…probably follows Tranmere Rovers. The sounds from the studios quickly spread to the football terraces & again, it was those two giant cubs from Merseyside that led the way. Here might be my favorite Beatle song… because it’s pure Scouse coming from John’s mouth…not polished BBC English & you can hear the skiffle: https://youtu.be/tSn1r9–tq4?si=w6gl829Br_1KuUqW

Songs at Football in General

As mentioned earlier, Americans don’t sing at sporting events. We’ll chant pre-planned & heavily choreographed/ orchestrated mantras…but singing isn’t what men do. Except, it’s exactly what men do in the 100s of millions everywhere on earth, 38 Saturdays every year as they sing their heroes to victory, while denigrating their rivals with wit, humor & spontaneity un-imagined here (wanna have a laugh, check out “American sport fan reacts to football chants” videos on Youtube). Here’s where the pop music enters the scene: you take a popular tune & add lyrics on the spot (like “You should have pissed in the bottle, you should have pissed in the bottle, you should have pissed in the bottle” to Rio Ferdinand, to the tune “Guantanamera” after he got suspended for skipping a urine test).

All teams have anthems to be sung when the lads need that extra lift…or to simply let the world know “here we are & who the hell are you?”. That “red team” across the park have probably the most famous of these anthems, when they made the Rodgers & Hammerstein song “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel theirs forever. I HATE this song…but nothing quite like hearing it from 61, 000 throats to send the willies up your spine: https://youtu.be/Go-jJlGd1so?si=LYA7gT61TlEg_P7j&t=60

At Everton, we have a song sheet that would make the Tabernacle Choir blush in shame. This is us after completely taking over Leicester’s ground (notice the stadium is empty…the home fans all gone…this went on for 15 straight minutes…same song… 3000 Blues gone mental…love the lid waving his crutches overhead): https://youtu.be/RFz-2SA79M8?si=WYDlH51wr16PShPm

All clubs sing…and there are masterpieces all over. Ajax (Amsterdam) sing Three Little Birds (https://youtu.be/T3aiTpkTk5o?si=fLd830RUh8v90IUP). Crystal Palace do a BOSS version of “Glad All Over” by the Dave Clark Five (https://youtu.be/Y8rKou9uXhw?si=DaiPgsW2o9SvJmpB ). How about Hell’s Bells as St. Puali walk out at the Millerntor (https://youtu.be/mxJGScfVOkQ?si=zZtGw1NZXjmAMexx)?

We try at Columbus & we make one hell of a noise- it’s just very robotic & inflexible (wee babes still compared to our Cousins Across the Pond). However, we’ve had some classics: “Oh Guillermo, you are the love of my life! Oh Guillermo, I’d let you shag my wife! Oh Guillermo, I want a mullet too!” for our Legendary Argentinian Master Guillermo Barros Schelotto; “Steve Lenhart, Superstar! Do you know what kind of God you are?” to the tune of Jesus Christ Superstar (yours truly may have been the author of that ditty). We’ve recently adopted the Elvis classic “Can’t Help Falling in Love” for our anthem & it creates a “nice scene”.

Like fashion…music always has been & always will be at the heart & soul of football clubs and fans for generations.