When you walk through a storm, Hold your head up high, And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm, Is a golden sky, And the sweet silver song of the lark
Walk on through the wind, Walk on through the rain, Though 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
When you walk through a storm, Hold your head up high, And don’t be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm, Is a golden sky, And the sweet silver song of the lark
Walk on through the wind, Walk on through the rain, Though 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
You’ll never walk, You’ll never walk alone.
Lots of people in the U.K. think this is a football anthem as it is often performed by the supporters on match day; the tradition began at Liverpool Football Club in the early 60’s and spread to other clubs. I read that Celtic FC in the East End of Glasgow, Scotland also sing this. This year is the 50th anniversary of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ being sung by supporters of Liverpool FC.
The song is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein hit musical Carousel which began life on Broadway in New York. It was their second musical adapted from Ferenc Molnar’s 1909 play Liliom. Nettie Fowler sings it to her cousin Julie, a millworker, when her husband Billy, a carousel barker, kills himself to avoid capture during a failed robbery. It is reprised later in the show when Julie’s daughter graduates and the cast join in following the Dr Seldon, the town physician, advising the graduating class not to rely on their parent’s success or be held back by their failure. In 1999 Time magazine named ‘Carousel’ the best musical of the 20th century.
It’s been a hit record for Gerry and the Pacemakers a Liverpool band in October 1963, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Doris Day amongst others. The songs message of optimism and common purpose is great for a choir and I hope I can do it justice on Saturday 9th November as a solo number. I thought it would be a suitable song for the remembrance concert ‘Autumn Leaves’ in Grindleford, Derbyshire.
Then it is an early start and back up to Scotland for a concert in Beith as a member of “Les Sirenes”, the female chamber choir who in 2012 won the BBC choir of the year under the Musical Direction of Andrew Nunn. This will be a great opportunity for me as I have been asked to sing one of my pieces from the Kathleen Ferrier competition, “Zueignung”.
