Liverpool FC and Music

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What’s all this then some of you may question.

I would like to put aside the drama related to the transfer window. Enough has been said about Torres and his fraudulent move to Chelsea as John Aldridge put it. I won’t wish Torres good luck and have done my utmost to get him flushed out of my mind. He has betrayed the values that this club stands for, the Liverpool loyal way. We stick to a club during thick and thin, we don’t run away when things turn sour. Liverpool have been boosted big time by FSV or NESV if you may, and the injection of Dalglish and Clarke as Manager and Coach respectively has elevated the club to new heights.

Some argued that transfers were left for late, but you can’t fault the club officials for the delay; negotiations in January will always be protracted and lengthy and will undoubtedly go down to the wire. Suarez and Carroll are exceptional players and I say this with confidence. My only concern is Carroll’s injury which will keep him away for some weeks at a time when Liverpool need to score goals and win games. Here’s hoping other players step forward and come up with the goods and that most surely includes Suarez.

With his actions, Torres has relegated himself to the dustbin of history and Liverpool fans must look forward now to a new era, a yearning for a title-winning Liverpool side. We aren’t there yet, but the signs look tremendously promising.

Those who know me will tell you that music and Liverpool have been an integral part of my life. It is then not a surprise that I have always looked out for music bands with origins in Liverpool or in any way having ties with Liverpool FC. The first name which springs to mind is Gerry and The Pacemakers, the band which covered You’ll Never Walk Alone from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Carousel. Gerry Marsden, a life-long Liverpool FC fan, presented Shankly with a tape recording and the go ahead was given for the song to be adopted as Liverpool’s official anthem. YNWA is what symbolises Liverpool FC and its fans, combining a spine tingling build-up to the chorus with lyrics which inspire a call to arms. The song has been adopted by other football clubs too including Celtic, Borussia Dortmund and the Kop has been featured on Pink Floyd’s Fearless singing the famous tune.

If you’re into 90s British rock music and haven’t heard of the band Cast, then you’ve got some catching up to do. The band formed primarily by John Power, ex-bassist of the band The La’s famous for the hit single There She Goes, has had three albums of notable success, All Change definitely the best of the three, Mother Nature Calls and Magic Hour. John Power, a big fan of the Reds was recently at the forefront to release a version of the song Fields of Anfield Road to commemorate he twentieth anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster. The Kop Choir was formed, featuring Phil Thompson and Bruce Grobbelaar amongst othesr, and the song released in April 2009. Power co-wrote the final verse which specifically mentions the Hillsborough tragedy. Worth mentioning a couple of songs which make up my Cast favourites: Alright (a piece of which was used in the documentary, One Night In May which tells the story of Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League triumph), Tell It Like It Is, Walkaway, Live The Dream, I’m So Lonely and Alien, the last being the best effort in Cast’s repertoire, again in my humble opinion.

Rewind back to the late 60s, 70s and a big name, fan of Liverpool FC which can’t be left out of this review is Elvis Costello. Born in London and raised in Liverpool, Costello will be remembered for songs like Everyday I Write The Book, Accidents Will Happen, (I Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea – a fitting song in this eventful period -, Watching The Detectives. More on Costello’s affinity with Liverpool FC here http://www.elviscostello.info/articles/h-l/liverpoolfc.html.

Less known to me before 2005 is a band spearheaded by another lifelong Liverpool fan, a certain Wayne Hussey, frontman of The Mission (The Mission UK for our American readers). Two songs I have learnt to appreciate are Butterfly On A Wheel and Like A Child, however it was the song Draped In Red from the album God Is A Bullet that brought this band to my attention. The song is a tribute to Liverpool’s Champions League triumph in 2005. Mention is also made of Gerrard’s unwillingness to leave the club after such a big victory.

Another name attached to Liverpool FC and which most of you will know from the song The Lady In Red is Chris De Burgh. His daughter, Rosanna, winner of Miss World Competition for Ireland in 2003, is equally involved in the World of LFC. Incidentally, De Burgh’s parents worked as British spies in Malta in the 1950s.

I’m sure I’ve missed other notable music characters (former BBC Radio 1 presenter DJ Spoony comes to mind!) and if anyone of you can point more out, please do so. Worth mentioning also are bands that have their origins in Liverpool and The Beatles would surely be the first to get mention. Others include, China Crisis, Dead Or Alive, Black, A Flock Of Seagulls, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Lightning Seeds, O.M.D (top band), The Teardrop Explodes and Wah!

Anyway, drifting off at a tangent from football matters. It’s Stoke tonight and I’m looking forward to watch the Reds in action. Torres has been, by now, extinguished by his own bombshell and unnecessary comments on joining Chelsea (referring to the big club bull). I can predict a battle against Stoke and I’m confident of a Liverpool win.

Go Reds!

See you next time.

More Stories cast Chelsea costello de burgh gerry and the pacemakers kop choir Stoke the mission You'll Never Walk Alone

9 Comments

  1. What about the late great John Peel ???
    Not a Liverpool band but stuck to the South Yorks Police
    ( Hillsborough Mass Murderers)- The magnificent Manic Street Preachers

  2. As much as I like the blog entry, I’m not sure “worth mentioning” quite does The Beatles justice. The Beatles ARE Liverpool and always will be. No other band even casts so much as a small shadow on their legacy. For half the world the only reason people even know the city exists is due to the Beatles. Visit Liverpool yourself and you can enjoy a visit to the Beatles Experience at the Albert Dock.

    1. Yes Ken, agree perfectly. I could go on for ages about the Beatles. Definitely no offense meant. Never been to the Albert Dock but my parents have and yes they say it’s well worth it. I hope to come over to Liverpool sometime this year and thats sure a place I will head for.

  3. as regard giving his shirt to footballers in africa i do not agree because that will make him famous .something liverpool fans donot wish at all

    1. Torres, his shirts, his website, his songs are all history. Fans need to get over him asap, hard as it may sound.

  4. He has betrayed the values that this club stands for, the Liverpool loyal way.

    Yea thats why we sacked Hodgson and slate poulsen cus this is the ‘Liverpool loyal way’ what a load of rubbish. In football you pick and choose who you want loyalty from starting with your best players.

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