Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents an excerpt from the Wikipedia page on football chants.
This excerpt focuses on some of the content in that page that refers to English language history of and sources for some examples of football (soccer) songs and chants.
This is the first part of an ongoing pancocojams series on football (soccer) chants. Click the tag below for other posts that will be published in this series.
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This pancocojams excerpt of this Wikipedia excerpt includes one editorial omission of a sexually explicit word.
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SOME INFORMATION ABOUT FOOTBALL (SOCCER) SONGS AND CHANTS
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_chant
"A football chant or terrace chant is a form of vocalisation
performed by supporters of association football, typically during football
matches. Football chanting is an expression of collective identity, most often
used by fans to express their pride in the team they support, or to encourage
them, and to celebrate a particular player or manager. Fans may also use
football chants to slight the opposition, and many fans sing songs about their
club rivals, even when they are not playing them. Sometimes the chants are
spontaneous reactions to events on the pitch.
Football chants can be simple, consisting of a few loud shouts or spoken words, but more often they are short lines of lyrics and sometimes longer songs. They are typically performed repetitively, sometimes accompanied by handclapping, but occasionally they may be more elaborate involving musical instruments, props or choreographed routines. They are often adaptations of popular songs, using their tunes as the basis of the chants, but some are original.
Football chants are known to have been used by fans from the late 19th century onwards, but developed into the current popular forms in the 1960s. Football chants can be historic, dating back as early as the formation of the club popularly sung down the years and considered the anthems for these clubs. They may also be popular for only a relatively short time, with new chants being constantly created and discarded. The tradition of football chants vary from country to country and team to team, but some chants are common to many clubs and popular internationally. Football chants may be considered one of the last remaining sources of an oral folk song tradition.[2]
History
Football chants may be considered modern examples of
traditional storytelling and folk songs. According to folk singer Martin
Carthy, football chants are "the one surviving embodiment of an organic
living folk tradition."[3] It is also a unique public expression of
collective identity,[4] and football chants may be seen as modern examples of
the folk tradition blason populaire where a group vocalise their identity as
well as their rivalry against another group.[5]
Early chants
Football fans' vocalisations came in the forms of cries,
chants and songs in the 19th century. War cries were known to have been used by
football fans from the 1880s onwards, with the earliest recorded in Scotland
after the Scottish Cup final of 1887.[6] The first known song that references
football, "The Dooley Fitba' Club" later known as "'Fitba'
Crazy", was also written in the 1880s by James Curran, although it was
intended for the music hall rather than the terrace.[6] It was also recorded in
the 1890s that Sheffield United fans had adopted a music hall song, the
"Rowdy Dowdy Boys", while Southampton fans sang a "Yi! Yi!
Yi!" chant based on a war cry.[7][6] …
The oldest football song in the world that is still in use today may be
"On the Ball, City", a song believed to have been composed in the
1890s by Albert T Smith, who became a director of Norwich City in 1905.[9] The
song was adopted by fans of the club and it is still sung by Norwich's
fans.[10][11] Such club song may have its origin in the public school system,
while others have links with working-class music hall.[6] Other early football
chants still sung today include "Pompey Chimes" or "Play up,
Pompey" sung by Portsmouth fans since the 1920s and based on the
Westminster Quarters (a form of the chant is believed to have been sung at
Fratton Park in the 1890s and was officially published in 1900, therefore it is
arguably older than "On the Ball, City"),[12] and "Blaydon
Races", a Geordie folk song from 1862, which was adopted by Newcastle
United fans in the 1930s.[13] Some of the songs sung at football ground by the
1920s were modified from popular music hall songs, for example "Kick,
Kick, Kick, Kick, Kick it" from "Chick, Chick, Chick, Chick,
Chicken" and "Keep the Forwards Scoring" from "Keep the
Home Fires Burning".[14] Chants that referenced players were also heard on
the terrace; for example, "Give it to Ballie" chanted by Swansea fans
in reference to a player name Billy Ball who played for the club in
1912-1920.[6]
Football chants in the early years were club-specific and they were generally friendly or jocular in tone.[3] Songs with sectarian overtones, however, had been sung at matches between Rangers and Celtic in the 1920s, which became more overtly confrontational in later decades, raising the possibility that sectarianism may have been the origin of oppositional chanting and singing at football matches.[14] Fans of the early period also had a limited repertoire of chants, which become more varied as singing was encouraged by the use of brass bands before games and the community singing movement that arose in the 1920s (the tradition of singing "Abide with Me" at FA Cup finals started in this period).[15]
1960s developments
While various elements of football chants were already
present in the early period, it was in the 1960s that the nature of football
chants started to change and modern football chants emerged to become an
integral part of fan culture and experience. The catalyst for the change may be
due to a number of factors; one suggestion is the growth and evolution of youth
culture in this period which, together with popular music started being played
over the public announcement system at matches instead of brass bands,
encouraged fans to start their own singing based on popular tunes. Another
suggestion is the mixing of fan cultures from different countries through
international football matches that started to be broadcast, such as the 1959
England's tour of South America and the 1962 World Cup.[16] The exposure to
intense chanting by South American and Italian fans during the 1962 and 1966
World Cups may have encouraged British fans who were previously more reserved
to do the same.[17][18] They also picked up different type of chants from other
countries; Liverpool fans for example, may have used a Brazilian chant
"Brazil, cha-cha-cha" and turned it into the "Li-ver-pool,
[clap, clap, clap]" chant.[19]
Chants became more extensive in the 1960s, and popular songs became increasingly common as the basis of chants as fans adapted these songs to reflect situations and events relevant to them. Chanting the name of the team, chants for players and managers started to become prevalent.[20] Liverpool supporters, particularly those on the Kop, were known for modifying songs in the early 1960s to suit their own purposes, and this practice quickly spread to fans of other clubs who created their own versions after hearing these chants often directed at them.[17] Repertoire of chants credited to Liverpool fans included the rhythmic clapping based on "Let's Go" by The Routers, the chorus from "We Shall Not Be Moved",[21] and "When the Saints Go Marching In" used to honour Ian St John, chants which were then also adopted by fans of other clubs.[17] Fans of many clubs now have a large and constantly evolving repertoire of chants in addition to a smaller number of songs closely associated with their club.
A more controversial aspect of this period of change was that abusive chants targeted at rival team or fans also became widespread.[20] These may be taunts and insults aimed at the opposition teams or players to unnerve them, or obscene or slanderous chants targeted at individuals. A sampling of English football chants in the late 1970s found these types of chants to be the most numerous.[17] Threats of violence may also be made to their rivals in chants; although such threats were rarely carried out, fights did occur which, together with increasing level of hooliganism in that period, gave these threats a real edge.[17] Some abuses are racial in nature; for example, anti-Semitic chants directed at Tottenham Hotspur began in the 1960s,[22] also against the Argentine club Atlanta (commonly heard in the 1960s but may have begun as early as the 1940s),[23] and against the Dutch club Ajax in the 1970s.[24] Racist insults directed at black players began to be heard in the 1970s and 1980s in England and Spain when black players started appearing in their leagues in increasing numbers.[25] Concerns over the abusive nature of some of these chants later led to measures in various countries to control them, for example, the British government made racist and indecent chants an offence in the UK in 1991.[26] In Italy, the Mancino law was used to prosecute fans for inciting racism,[27] and fans were excluded from their ground for derogatory chants.[28] Despite efforts to stop them, some chants remain an issue around the world, such as the el .... chant used by Mexican fans,[29][30] and racist chants in many countries.[31][32][33][34][35]
International spread
As the sport of football spread to other countries, so did its associated fan
culture of football chants. Many countries, however, have developed their own
tradition of football songs and chants; for example, most Italian clubs have
their own official hymns, often written specially for the club by a prominent
singer or composer who is a fan of the club.[36][37] Many countries also have
football chants dating from the early part of the 20th century,[38][39] and
clubs such as Real Madrid may have an official club song as early as 1903.[40]
Football chants created in different countries may be specific to the local
culture. Hand-clapping chants were popular in South American countries such as
Brazil before it spread to other countries.[17] Some chants originated from
other sports; for example, the "two, four, six, eight!" chant that
was used for sports in the United States from the early 20th century was
adopted by football fans in the UK in the 1950s.[14][41] The "Olé"
chant from bullfighting is believed to be first used in Brazil for Garrincha in
1958,[42] and one version of the "Olé, Olé, Olé" chant was first
heard at a league game in Spain in 1982,[43] while another version quickly
spread around Europe in 1986 and became widely popular around the world.[44][45]
In Italy, the development of the ultra fan culture with their passionate
theatrical display of support including choreographed singing and chanting
conducted by a leader has also been influential in many other countries.[46]
As football fans travel to other countries on away international matches, and international broadcasts of football matches are common, fans from around the world often picked up chants from other clubs and countries, and some chants spread in an organic manner and become popular internationally. An example is the chant based on "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes – it was first adopted by fans of Belgian Club Brugge KV in 2003, their chant was then picked by Italian fans, and it was made an unofficial anthem for the Italy national football team in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, following which it spread to other football clubs around the world as well as beyond football into other sports and events.[47][48]
Common types of chants
Anthems – These are songs that are closely associated with a
club, and are commonly sung by fans to express their collective identity.
Unlike other types of chants that are variations of widely-used chants, these
songs tend to be unique to a particular club.[49] The best-known example may be
"You'll Never Walk Alone" sung by Liverpool fans, although it has
also been adopted by a few other clubs such as Celtic and Borussia Dortmund…
Engagement with the team – These chants come in
various forms. They may be expression of pride or loyalty in the club or team,
or identity as fans of the club. At the simplest, the chants may just be
repetitions of the name of the team, often with clapping (e.g. clap, clap, clap
3×, clap 4×, [name of club]), or they may identify themselves, e.g. "We
are the [name for fans or home stand]". These also includes songs commonly
sung at the club, such as "When the [name of team] Go Marching In".
The chants may also praise the team, individual players or
managers. Typically popular tunes are used for this type of chants, for
example, "There's only one [name of player]" sung to the tune of
"Guantanamera", "Super [name of player or team]", or the
"Olé, Olé, Olé" chant.
The chants may give encouragement to the team, for example, "Come on you [name of team]", "Vamos [name of team]", "Allez [name of team]".
They may be expression of confidence and optimism, suggesting that their team will win a game, the league, be promoted, or win a major cup tie at venues such as Wembley.
There may also be expressions of dissatisfaction, such as criticism of the team when they are performing poorly, or calling for the manager to resign, and occasionally against the owner of the club.[53]
Insults, threats or expressions of hatred or mockery
directed at the opponents – There are large variations in this type of chants.
The chants may target the team (for example, "Stand up if you hate [name
of team]", ….
Chants may be aimed at individual players or managers, and
these can range from the amusing to the offensive or obscene. For example,
"Who Ate All the Pies?" may be used against a player considered
fat,[54] or racist chants directed at black players.[31] Chants may sometimes
reflect players or managers in the news, or they may be made-up accusations
directed against them that can be sung in either a humorous or offensive manner
[…]
On occasion, chants may be self-deprecating, such as the chant "We lose every week, we lose every week / You're nothing special / We lose every week".[59][60][61]
Reactions to events that happened on the pitch or off the
pitch, these may be in celebration of a goal (e.g. "two-nil") or
aiming to disrupt, or are expressions of boredom. They may also be comments
about the officials such as the referees (e.g. "the referee's a
wanker"),[62] or the policing.[17]
Atmospheric chants – Sounds aimed at creating interest or
excitement in the game without any specific message, such as long drawn-out
"oooooh" and "arrrrrgh", or "la la la la la
..."[17]
Tragedy chanting
Tragedy chanting involves chanting about an opposition
club's tragedies or tragic events that happen in their home cities.[63]
Instances in English football include exchanges between Manchester United and
Leeds United fans,[64] and between Manchester United and Liverpool
fans.[65][66]
Spoken chants
Some chants are spoken, sometimes accompanied by percussion.
These chants may simply consist of the name of the team and/or words of
encouragement. The chants may also be in a call-and-response format. For
example, Chile national football team fans will do a routine whereby one group
of fans will chant "Chi-Chi-Chi", and another group will respond
"Le-Le-Le".[43] For the Indonesia national football team one group of
fans will chant "In-Do-Ne-Sia" with an air horn and hand clap in
response. "Garuda Di Dadaku" is sung by fans when Indonesia plays at
home.[citation needed]
[…]
Some chants consist simply of a loud shout or whoop with a
hand clap, sometimes led by a drum beat that gets increasingly faster, such as
the Viking Thunder Clap made popular by fans of Iceland. Similar chants have
been performed by fans of teams such as Motherwell and Lens, and a version
called "Boom Boom Clap" has been used by fans of North American clubs
such as Seattle Sounders FC and Toronto FC since 2008 as well as the American
national teams.[73][74][75][76]
[…]
Chants based on hymns and classical music
Several football chants are based on hymns, with "Cwm
Rhondda" (also known as "Guide me, O thou great redeemer") being
one of the most popular tunes to copy. Amongst others, it has spawned the song
"You're not singing anymore!",[83] "We support our local
team!", and "I will never be a Blue!".
Various teams have used the "Glory Glory" chant (used by "Tottenham Hotspur", "Leeds United", "Manchester United", etc.), to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" …]
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" is often sung with the words "Here we go, here we go, here we go!".
There have been various adaptations of "When The Saints Go Marching In" (e.g. by fans of Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur), and the tune of Handel's "Hallelujah chorus" as well as the tune of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and "The Blue Danube".
[…]
Chants based on spirituals and folk songs
Some chants are based on spirituals.
"We shall not be moved" and "He's Got the Whole World in His
Hands" are both used by fans. An example of the latter's use was
"He's got a pineapple on his head" aimed at Jason Lee due to his distinctive
hairstyle.[88] The
song was later popularised by the television show Fantasy Football League.
Christmas carols have also been used as
chants like with the theme of "O
Tannenbaum" by the likes of Manchester United or Chelsea fans.
[…]
"Sloop John B" has been popular amongst English
football fans since the mid-2000s. It was adopted by the supporters of English
non-league team F.C. United of Manchester as a club anthem in 2007.[92]
The Geordie folk song "Blaydon Races" is associated with Newcastle United.[93] Other folk songs to have their lyrics altered include "The John B. Sails" to "We Won it 5 Times" by Liverpool fans, "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" to "We'll Be Coming Down the Road" by the Scotland national team and Liverpool fans, "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean", "The Wild Rover" (used for "We're by far the greatest team, the world has ever seen") and "Camptown Races", which is used for "Two World Wars, One World Cup", whilst Birmingham City fans sing "Keep Right on to the End of the Road".
[…]
"The Fields of Athenry" is a widely used anthem by
Irish sports fans, sang particularly at rugby and football matches.[95] The
song was adopted and reworked by Liverpool fans as "The Fields of Anfield
Road".[96]
Chants based on popular music
Popular music is the most common source of football chants.
In the United Kingdom, music hall songs such as "My Old Man (Said Follow
the Van)", "Knees Up Mother Brown", "I'm Forever Blowing
Bubbles", "I Came, I Saw, I Conga'd" and "Two Little
Boys" have long been used as the basis of terrace chants. Popular
standards such as "Winter Wonderland", Scott Joplin's "The
Entertainer", and the 1958 Eurovision entry "Volare" are also
widely adapted to suit players and managers.[93] The Cuban song
"Guantanamera" became popularly used as a chant in the UK as a
version by The Sandpipers charted soon after the 1966 World Cup; it is commonly
sung in a large variety of chants, for example in the form of "There's
only one [player's name]", or "You only sing when you're
winning".[97][98] The tune "Tom Hark" is often played at many
stadiums following a goal by the home team and for chants such as
"Thursday Nights, Channel 5", whilst "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever
Will Be, Will Be)" by Doris Day is generally reserved for matches where
the venue of the final is Wembley Stadium
The rhythm, rather than the melody, of "Let's Go (Pony)" by the Routers is widely used for clapping, drumming or banging by fans worldwide.
Music of the 1960s influenced terrace chants. "Ring of
Fire" by Johnny Cash and "That's Amore" by Dean Martin have been
used by several sets of fans.[99][100] "Lola" by the Kinks, and
"Hi Ho Silver Lining" by Jeff Beck have been adapted by several clubs
– most prolific of these include Aston Villa, Sheffield Wednesday and
Wolverhampton Wanderers.[101] "All You Need Is Love", "Hey
Jude" and "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles are often used.[101][102]
Songs from musicals have become very popular as football chants, such as
"Chim Chim Cher-ee" from the 1964 musical Mary Poppins.[103]
[...]
The emergence of funk and disco in the 1970s also made its
mark on the terraces with songs such as "Go West" by the Village
People[105] and "Oops Up Side Your Head" by The Gap Band remaining
popular amongst fans. "Ain't Nobody" by Rufus and Chaka Khan has been
used by Arsenal fans and others. Music popular in the 1980s and 1990s is also
used widely. Chants have been based on "Just Can't Get Enough" by
Depeche Mode,[106] "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division,[107]
"Pop Goes the World" by Men Without Hats, the Band Aid song "Do
They Know It's Christmas?", "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag" by
Pigbag[108] and "This Is How It Feels" by Inspiral Carpets.[93] Other
chants have used tunes from on pop songs include "Three Lions", the
official England anthem for Euro '96 and Manic Street Preachers song "If
You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next".[109]
[…]
More recent releases to have their music appropriated include "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes, which became highly popular across nations.[110] A number of songs became popular in the 2010s, an example being "Freed from Desire", which is used to celebrate particular players – it was first popularised as "Will Grigg's on Fire", then used for others such as "Vardy's on Fire" and "Grizi's on Fire
[…]
Chants based on nursery rhymes and theme tunes
Football crowds also adapt tunes such as nursery rhymes and
theme tunes. "The Farmer in the Dell" known in some regions as 'The
Farmer Wants A Wife', provides the famous chant of "Ee Aye Addio", a
tune which also provides the first bars of the 1946 be-bop jazz classic
"Now's The Time", by alto saxophonist Charlie Parker. The marching
tune "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" is also used a basis for
songs, such as "His Armband Said He Was a Red", sung by Liverpool
fans in honour of Fernando Torres while he was still at the club.[119] Chelsea
fans then adapted the chant to match their own colours when Torres was
transferred to the London club in 2011, with "He's now a Blue, he was a
Red." Manchester United used the song to describe Torres and his looks too
after he missed an open goal. United also used the song about John O'Shea after
he scored a goal against Derby in the Carling Cup in 2009. The children's song
"Ten Green Bottles" became "Ten German Bombers", to the
tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain," both songs used by
English fans to their main rivals, Germany. The nursery rhyme "This Old
Man" is sung by both supporters of Manchester United and Manchester City.
The "Theme from Z-Cars" has been used in Everton's Goodison Park
ground since 1962.[120]
Theme tunes which have been used as chants include Heartbeat and The Banana Splits.[121]
Club-specific songs
Some football teams also have songs which are traditionally
sung by their fans. The song "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel
is associated heavily with Liverpool. In 1963, the song was covered by
Liverpool group Gerry and the Pacemakers, which prompted the song's adoption by
the Kop. At this time, supporters standing on the Spion Kop terrace at Anfield
began singing popular chart songs of the day. The mood was captured on camera
by a BBC Panorama camera crew in 1964. One year later, when Liverpool faced
Leeds in the FA Cup final, the travelling Kop sang the same song and match
commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme commended the "Liverpool signature
tune".[122] Other songs sung by Liverpool fans include "Poor Scouser
Tommy" based on "Red River Valley".[123]
Fans of West Ham United were said to have adopted the song "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" at Upton Park in the mid-1920s,[124] although no record of West Ham fans singing the song existed until 1940.[125]
[…]
Manchester City has been strongly associated with the classic popular song "Blue Moon" since the late 1980s.[127] The song is now an established and official part of the club's brand and culture: 'Blue Moon' is also the name of the club's leading fansite.
[…]
"Goodnight, Irene" is sung by fans of Bristol
Rovers,[130] while "Drink Up Thy Zider" by The Wurzels is sung by
Bristol City fans.”…
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