YNWA - The power of a song

There are only a select number of places in this world, where space and time are liminal. You can spend three hours in a music venue, forget where you are and come out feeling like those were the fastest 30 minutes of your life. There is something magical about music, it exists in a different space.

You can become invisible in a crowd and can scream until your throat feels like sandpaper, not caring that you’re sweating your ass off. It’s a place where the drum beat’s so loud you can feel it vibrate through the floor, and when the bass lands on your chest it’s so heavy it hurts; that’s the best part, feeling the music.

The first time I remember having this experience was at a family party. ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ was playing and someone was standing at the centre of the dancefloor singing his heart out. Within seconds, everyone in the room was surrounding him, singing. Linked arms, swaying, with hands to chests like they were pledging allegiance, as he held this Liverpool FC scarf like a banner. It has since been played at every family function, every birthday, wedding, and funeral, and at each event, it completely absorbs the room.

In light of Gerry Marsen passing away, I’ve been thinking a lot about this song. And I promise this isn’t about football — not all of it anyway.

This song has a long history of its own, separate from Marsen or Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical ‘Carousel’. It has been covered by a range of artists: From Lana Del Rey to Johnny Cash to Andre Rieu & His Johann Strauss Orchestra. It inspired Queen to write the hits ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’. It was the foundation of Dutch radio presenter DJ Sander Hoogendoorn’s project which had 183 radio stations and football stadiums simultaneously playing the song around Europe. At the ‘Nelson Mandela: An international tribute to free South Africa’ speech, Wembley Stadium broke out into song. When he asked what they were singing, Mandela was told, ‘They’re singing a football song’. But it is so much more.

‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ is not a work of genius in the sense that it’s complex. The simplicity of its lyrics and cliches are where this song finds its charm. It’s a song that evokes a feeling, It projects hope, comfort, community and right now, that’s what we all need.

Johan Cruyff said it best:

‘There's not one club in Europe with an anthem like You'll Never Walk Alone. There's not one club in the world so united with their fans. I sat there watching the Liverpool fans and they sent shivers down my spine. A mass of 40,000 people became one force behind their team. That's something not many teams have. For that I admire Liverpool more than anything.’

Admittedly I am biased, Liverpool is a place and team that mean a lot to me. However, contrary to what you may believe, I’m not a football person; but I am a music person. Over the past year, I have spent my low moments looking through my videos, reminiscing and there’s one, in particular, I always go back to: In April 2019, I went to a Yungblud concert, and during the intro to ‘Loner’, the whole crowd was singing the phrase ‘ooh’ over and over again. And it sounds a lot like a football chant and would appear on the surface to be nothing special, but the awe I experience when a crowd sings; it’s a beautiful sound.

Whether it be in a music hall, a stadium or a club, it’s an electrifying experience to be lost in a crowd. To not matter if you’re bad at singing, or not singing the right words at all. To just be a part of something much bigger than yourself. Somewhere there, it transcends being just noise. At that moment, listening to the background of cheers and crying, the collective sound creates one prevailing voice.