THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

60-Gerry and the Pacemakers-You’ll Never Walk Alone.

1963-Number 1 single. It also re-entered the chart in 2012 when reaching Number 12.

Best Bit-At 1.55. According to former Liverpool Football Club player Tommy Smith, (1945-2019) Gerry Marsden gave the Liverpool manager Bill Shankly (1913-1981) a recording of this song which was to be their next single. Shankly was very impressed, he said,’Gerry my son, I have given you a football team, and you have given us a song.’

‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ started out life as a show tune, from the 1945 Richard Rodgers, (1902-1979) and Oscar Hammerstein (1895-1960) (see also best songs 842 and 82) musical ‘Carousel,’ which was also made into a 1956 film, both the musical and the film were based on the 1909 play ‘Lillom,’ written by the Austrian/Hungarian novelist Ferenc Molnar (1878-1952.) In the musical it was first sung by Christine Johnson, (1911-2010) in the role of Nettie Fowler, while later in the show it was reprised by Jan Clayton, (1917-1983) in the role of Julie Jordan.

In 1963 at Anfield, the home of Liverpool Football Club, the Disc Jockey would play the current top 10 Pop chart singles before every home game. After a while some of the crowd would start to sing-a-long to ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ As the weeks went by more and more would begin to join in, and even after the record dropped out of the top 10 it would still be requested. The song has since become ingrained as part of the pre match ritual at Anfield, and is probably the most famous sporting anthem worldwide. The Liverpool Football Club’s official emblem has the words ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ inscribed in white, on a green background, and those words are also above the ‘Shankly Gates,’ which are on the Anfield Road side of the ground.

‘Gerry and the Pacemakers’ were formed in Liverpool, England in 1956 by Gerry Marsden, (1942-2021) his brother Freddie Marsden, (1940-2006) and Arthur ‘Mack’ McMahon, who stayed with the group until departing in 1961. They originally started out life as ‘Gerry Marsden and the Mars Bars,’ but had to change when the ‘Mars Company’ who made the chocolate ‘Mars Bar’ complained. In total there have been eight different members over the years, with the group being active from 1956-1966, and then in 1972 Gerry Marden reactivated the band using differing members, and they remained active until 2018. The discography of Gerry and the Pacemakers includes nine studio Albums released between 1963-1983, and 26 singles issued between 1963-2012. In the UK they have achieved 10 top 40 hits, and were the first artists to get to Number 1 with their first three singles,’How Do You Do It,’ ‘I Like It,’ and ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone,’ all in 1963. In America seven of their singles have charted on the Billboard Hot 100 top 40, with ‘Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying’ charting the highest at Number 4 in 1964.

At the time Gerry and the Pacemakers released ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ they were working with some of the same people as the Beatles, as both groups shared the same manager Brian Epstein, (1934-1967) and both bands also shared the same producer George Martin (1926-2016.) ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ has also reached Number 1 on two other occasions in the UK, in 1985 following the Bradford City Football Club stadium fire in which 56 people died, Gerry Marsden sang lead vocals on a re-make of the song with all profits going to the families of the bereaved. Marsden was joined by many musicians and celebrities of the day, playing as ‘The Crowd.’ In April 2020, to mark 99-year old Captain Tom Moore (1920-2021) completing the first phase of his fundraising walk during the COVID-19 pandemic, English actor, singer and broadcaster, Michael Ball sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” for him live on BBC Television Breakfast. Within 24 hours their rendition was released as a download and went straight to Number 1 in the UK. Captain Tom Moore who turned 100 years old six days later became the oldest living person to achieve a UK Number 1 single, beating the previous record-holder Tom Jones, (see also best songs 964 and 129) who was 68 years old when a Comic Relief rendition of ‘Islands in the Stream’ reached Number 1 in 2009.

In May 1989 Gerry Marsden sang lead vocal on a charity version of his own composition ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey,’ which had originally reached Number 8 in 1964, and was made for those affected by the ‘Hillsborough disaster’, which had claimed the lives of 95 Liverpool fans (which has since risen to 97.) Marsden was joined on the recording by other Liverpool artists, Paul McCartney, The Christians, and Holly Johnson, with production provided by Stock Aitken and Waterman.

‘When you walk through a storm hold your head up high, and don’t be afraid of the dark. At the end of a storm there’s a golden sky, and the sweet silver song of a lark.’