There’s Something That The Kop Wants you to Know.
AN ARTICLE BY SUPERSUB
There was a discussion on here recently with Matty, where he was sayin that there’s a general ‘lack of creativity’ from NFL supporters, when it comes to singing songs about the players during games. It doesn’t really happen over there apparently, which is summat that you couldn’t say about ‘proper’ football (😉), & certainly not about those who flock to Anfield, or follow the reds away from home.
Songs about individual players, have been around, at Liverpool anyway, since at least the 1960’s & most (if not all) of them have seen the lyrics adapted from popular and/or familiar music tracks. There’s been so many over the years & everyone will have their own personal favourites, but here’s just a few of those that immediately come to mind.
The first one that I can remember singing at the game, that was an adaptation of a popular song, was that of ‘The Mighty Quinn’ by Manfred Mann. “Come on without, come on within. You’ve not seen nothing like the mighty Emlyn”. He was some player too.
Some chants are fairly elaborate; The Torres ‘bounce’, to the tune of ‘Johnny Comes Marching Home’, a popular song from the American civil war, or the Suarez ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’ song (Depeche Mode), whilst others have been simple & repetitive, like the chant for (arguably) the greatest footballer ever to wear a Liverpool shirt, Kenny Dalglish.
This was adapted from a popular song in the 1960’s called ‘Let’s Go’ by The Routers.
👏👏 – 👏👏👏 – 👏👏👏👏 DALGLISH…!!! A one word chant (with clapping), that has also been used for others, including Ian St John (originally) & John Toshack. Effective in it’s simplicity & showing that the best players, don’t always have the most creative chants made for them.
Some chants have been passed down over the years & adapted from player to player. ‘Son Of My Father’, a 1972 hit by Chicory Tip, was first used for Joey Jones, if I remember rightly & this chant has reappeared over the years & used for a host of other players, including Jimmy Case, Sammy Lee & also of course, it’s still in use today for our number 26. “Oh Andy Andy….”
Other chants have given a mention to more than one player, such as ‘Men Of Harlech’, adapted for John Toshack particularly, but also gives a shout out to another great player of the time.
‘Stevie Heighway’s always running, John Toshack is always scoring….”. And, of course, the all-time classic, ‘Fields Of Anfield Road’, where, as well as Shanks & Paisley, Steve Heighway gets yet another (well deserved) mention of his time ‘on the wing’, alongside Kenny’s….’And could he play’.
This creativity is still well in evidence today, with unique chants being created for several players.
Virgil van Dijk’s ‘Dirty Old Town’ adaptation. Mo Salah’s ‘Running Down The Wing’, adapted from ‘Sit Down’ by James. Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Mrs Robinson’, which comes out as, ‘So here’s to you, Jordan Henderson and, one of my own personal all-time favourites……Bobby Firmino. This is a brilliant song to sing at the match, coz the Latin feel of the rhythm seems just perfect for our Bobby.
Originally a song by Fito Paéz, ‘Y Dale Alegría A Mi Corazón’, it’s a chant that’s been used widely, both here & originally in South America, where there’s often heated disputes about where the song was actually first used as a chant. Far too complicated to go into here, but I’d like to think it’s Boca Juniors that started this off, even tho it probably wasn’t. Here’s the original song.
I found a quite interesting blog about this btw, written by Ben Stevenson & entitled, ‘The Roberto Firmino Song : A short story’. It outlines the development of this song for Bobby & gives a great insight into how many football chants come to be adopted by supporters. Well worth a read imo.
Well that’s enough of this short(ish) ramble. There’s far too many songs/chants to mention here & it’s fair to say that, when it comes to creativity in adapting songs for the players/team etc, Liverpool supporters are amongst the most prolific & always have been. And long may that continue.
What’s your favourite chant/song and, if you were to write one yourself, who would it be for & what original song would it be adapted from…?
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