| You'll Never Walk Alone | |
| Comment: | Introduced in the 1945 musical, Carousel |
| Composer: | Richard Rodgers |
| Lyricist: | Oscar Hammerstein II |
| Language: | English |
| Original Artist: | Christine Johnson |
| Recorded By: | Nina Simone Johnny Cash Gordon MacRae Frank Sinatra Judy Garland Mario Lanza Roy Hamilton Doris Day Gerry & The Pacemakers Patti LaBelle and the BlueBelles Elvis Presley The Blind Boys Of Alabama Bryn Terfel Many other artists; see
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"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Carousel.
In the musical, in the second act, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the female protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the male lead, has killed himself after a failed robbery. It is reprised in the final scene to encourage a graduation class of which Louise (their daughter) is a member. Billy attends this ceremony during his return to earth and inspires them with his words of encouragement to assure them of his love.
The song is also sung at football clubs around the world, where it is performed by a massed chorus of supporters on matchday; this tradition began at Liverpool F.C. in the early 1960s and later spread to several other clubs.[1]
Christine Johnson, who created the role of Nettie first introduced the song in the original Broadway production, and later Jan Clayton as Julie Jordan reprises it at the end with the chorus joining in. In the film it is sung by Claramae Turner as Nettie (although the weeping Shirley Jones (as Julie) first tries to sing it, but cannot), and later reprised by Ms. Jones and a chorus.
Because the song is included during the graduation finale of the musical, it has become a standard, sung by graduation classes in the United States.
Besides the recordings of the song on the Carousel cast albums and the film soundtrack, the song has been recorded by many artists as listed below, with notable hit versions made by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Elvis Presley, Roy Hamilton, Johnny Cash, Tom Jones and Renée Fleming.
On January 18 2009, the American soprano Renée Fleming performed the song with the United States Naval Academy Glee Club on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC during the "We Are One" inaugural concert for President-elect Barack Obama. The song's lyrics - "Walk on, through the rain, though your dreams be tossed and blown, walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart" - seemed especially appropriate for a nation of weary people in the midst of a deep economic downturn, all hoping for a brighter tomorrow.
In England, the song's most successful performance was recorded in 1963 by the Liverpudlian Merseybeat group Gerry & The Pacemakers (peaking at number one in the singles chart for four consecutive weeks). It quickly became the anthem of Liverpool Football Club and is invariably sung by its supporters moments before the start of each home game.[2] [3] The words "You'll Never Walk Alone" also feature in the club crest and on the Shankly Gate entrance to the stadium.
According to former player Tommy Smith, Gerry Marsden presented Liverpool manager Bill Shankly with a recording of his upcoming cover single during a pre-season coach trip in the summer of 1963. "Shanks was in awe of what he [had] heard. [...] Football writers from the local newspapers were travelling with our party and, thirsty for a story of any kind between games, filed copy back to their editors to the effect that we had adopted Gerry Marsden's forthcoming single as the club song."[4]
Marsden himself told BBC Radio how, in the nineteen-sixties, the deejay at Anfield would play the top-ten commercial records in ascending order, with the number one single transmitted last, shortly before kickoff. Supporters standing on the Spion Kop terrace would sing along, but once "You'll Never Walk Alone" dropped out of the top-ten, says Marsden, they continued to sing it.[5] [6] The song was later adopted by the Scottish teams Hibernian and Celtic[3] and Dutch teams Feyenoord and FC Twente.[7]
The Pink Floyd song "Fearless", from their 1971 Meddle album, includes a recording of the Liverpool Kop singing "You'll Never Walk Alone". The recording is repeated many times during the song and appears solely as a conclusion at the end of the track.
A special recording of the song was made in solidarity with Bradford City following the Valley Parade fire in 1985, when 56 spectators died and many more were seriously injured. The song was performed by The Crowd, featuring Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney and Rolf Harris, among others.
Some years later, after witnessing a rousing rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone" at Anfield in 2007, the President of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, said he felt inspired to seek lyrics to his country's wordless national anthem, the Royal March, ahead of Madrid's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games.[8] [9]
Walk on through the wind,Walk on through the rain,Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart,And you'll never walk alone,You'll never walk alone!
Note: some versions print "keep your chin up high"