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Iconic show tune that’s still a Liverpool FC anthem 60 years on
This year marks 60 years since the release of Gerry Marsden’s You’ll Never Walk Alone and its first rendition on the Kop.
Written by Oscar Hammerstein II and composed by Richard Rodgers as part of their musical Carousel, You’ll Never Walk Alone was first released in America in 1945, later coming to our screen in 1956 for the film adaptation. Becoming a football anthem via the late Gerry Marsden who released his version in 1963, it has become synonymous with Liverpool FC, being sung by every era of the club from Shankly to Klopp.
That same year, Marsden is said have presented a copy of the song to legendary LFC manager Bill Shankly whilst on a pre-season trip, with player Tommy Smith at the time claiming Shankly was “in awe” of what he heard. Some say journalists covering the trip reported back home that the song had become the club’s new anthem and that when it was in the charts, fans could regularly hear the hit playing from a PA system inside the grounds.
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Many LFC fans cite that their defeat in the FA Cup semi-final against Leicester in April 1963 was the first time they remember singing it. By 1982, the Shankly Gates, constructed outside Anfield that year, were adorned with the words ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’
In the years to follow, the song has become an anthem for LFC fans in the city and beyond, with its lyrics about solidarity holding more significance and offering determination and comfort following the 1989 Hillsborough disaster. Adopted by other clubs including Celtic, Feyenoord and Jurgen Klopp’s two former German clubs Borussia Dortmund and Mainz, the song has also been covered by other stars such as Elvis, Barbra Streisand and Johnny Cash.
In 2017, the song was also the subject of a documentary which takes the origins of the song back to Budapest in 1909. Jurgen Klopp is was among those who contribute to the film, as well as voice of Anfield George Sephton and Hillsborough campaigners Adrian Tempany and Damian Kavanagh.
In 2019, the first music gig in Anfield in a decade was a special one as Take That and Gerry Marsden brought Anfield to a standstill by singing You’ll Never Walk Alone live. The moment, which gave fans goosebumps, came at the end of the show.
And at the weekend, the anthem was performed at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool as part of the grand final. As part of the Liverpool Songbook, 2019 winner Duncan Laurence, from The Netherlands, closed the performance with his hauntingly beautiful cover.
But 1963 was also a significant year for our region as a number of Liverpool acts, such as The Beatles, Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas, Gerry and The Pacemakers and The Searchers dominated the UK charts with a string of number one hits for an unprecedented 36 weeks. Other chart-topping stars emerged such as the late Cilla Black, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Fourmost and The Big Three.
This year is the 60th anniversary of The Beatles’ first LPs, as well as the release of You’ll Never Walk Alone and its first rendition on the Kop. An exhibition currently on display at Liverpool Central Library is celebrating all things 1963 on Merseyside.
The exhibition includes a “lost” song by the late Merseybeat legend Gerry Marsden that was discovered when Gerry’s wife Pauline handed in a photograph of her husband, which had hung in Brian Epstein’s office in response to a call for never before seen memorabilia from the era to adorn the Liverpool 1963 – How Did We Do It? exhibition at Liverpool’s Central Library.
Spencer Leigh, Merseybeat expert and the exhibition’s co-curator, said: “It is 60 years since Liverpool transformed itself and then the UK and then the world, having a remarkable effect on popular culture which resonates until today. Why else is the Eurovision Song Contest being staged in Liverpool?
“Liverpool 1963 – How Did we Do It? looks at The Beatles and all the other musicians who made such a difference to our popular culture. We have gone out of our way to ask musicians and collectors for unusual items to show us and there are surprises wherever you look in this exhibition.”
Carl Kenneally, co-curator of Liverpool 1963 – How Did We Do It? and Lead Digital Archivist at Liverpool Central Library, said: “The exhibition was Spencer Leigh’s idea and given how much the Merseybeat era has been explored he set the tone by asking for items that people had never seen before.
“One day Pauline Marsden brought in the photograph of her husband, Gerry, which Brian Epstein had on his office wall. We noticed a handwritten lyric on the back of one of her items and she said, ‘Oh, Gerry would write songs on the back of anything.’ That was a real wow moment!We’re delighted we’re been able to turn that into a piece of music for the launch. That is going to be special.
“Thanks to Spencer’s connections and his ask for something unique, the exhibition provides a fascinating insight into those who were there at the heart of the scene. We have images and stories many people will simply have never seen or heard of what was a defining period of the 20th century for Liverpool, the UK and the world.
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“1963 is the year the sound of Liverpool took over the airwaves and TV screens, here and abroad, in a way no city had done before or since. For that reason alone, why that happened deserves to be examined and re-examined by each new generation.
“Yes it was 60 years ago, but its seismic impact both musically and culturally can still be felt today. The music of that magical era remains a fundamental part of Liverpool’s identity, as the world will see again when we celebrate all things Eurovision over the coming weeks.”
Liverpool 1963 – How Did We Do It? is free entry at the Hornby Library, Liverpool Central Library, until August 31, 2023.
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