The Soul of Celtic | About Celtic | Games | Players | Managers | The Board
(by TheHumanTorpedo)
The cheers and tears of 120 years following the Celts have inspired a supporters’ songbook which has often been imitated but never bettered. In the very early days the songs of the Celtic support were exclusively inspired by the club’s Irish and Catholic roots and the Parkhead fans were famed for their vocal backing of the Bhoys. Originally the sky above the terracing would be filled with the sound of hymns like ‘Hail Glorious St Patrick…” or patriotic and rousing ballads like ‘God Save Ireland’.
Ireland would remain a favoured topic of the Celtic choir but as the club began to build it own history, collect its own triumphs, heroes and tragedies then naturally the focus of songs shifted. From the calypso joy of ‘Hampden In The Sun’ to the haunting ballad of ‘John Thomson’ the Celtic support have always been eager and inventive in recollecting in song unforgettable memories from the club’s past.
Glen Daly’s ‘Celtic Song’ and the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ would become firm favourites of the support in the 60s and 70s and would be joined later by ‘Over and Over’, ‘The Fields of Athenry’ and Charlie and The Bhoys ‘Willie Maley’ as staples of the Celtic Park soundtrack. They are songs which simply celebrate everything which is great about being a Celt and in turn have become as much entwined with the club’s identity as any footballer.
There is nothing in football quite as emotive and as inspiring as the Celtic support in full voice. It is not the steel and concrete that makes Celtic Park one of football’s most revered venues. It is the people that fill it and the songs that fill those people. From the supporters bus, to the pubs of the Gallowgate and onto the terracing the songs of Celtic have been and always will be a huge part of following the Hoops. Let the people sing!