Going to an American sporting event versus a sporting event in the United Kingdom, such as football, isn't necessarily a better or worse experience, but it is inarguably a different one. If the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "chant" is "let's go (team)," you're an American. Chanting at a Celtic football game is more of a concert experience where the fans sing well-known, long-established songs. Four songs in particular have cemented themselves in Celtic culture above all others, and it behooves you to know them.
Fields of Athenry
This song is perhaps the most well-known Celtic football song, but to an American it might not seem as though it would be sung joyfully in a stadium. The lyrics speak of someone who is observing men and women outside of a prison wall and laments the love and freedom he once had. He was jailed for rebelling against the crown and now looks out upon others being oppressed by the government he could not overthrow. Because Ireland is now free from British tyranny, the song is sung as a proud reminder.
The Boys of the Old Brigade
The Irish continue to demonstrate a poetic medium of voicing their disdain for Britain's treatment of them in the past with "The Boys of the Old Brigade." In this song, a son tells his father to cheer up, for he has joined the IRA as his father had. The repeated chorus is, "Where are the lads that stood with me/When history was made?/A Ghra Mo Chroi, I long to see/The boys of the old brigade." The young soldier's thoughts continually turn back to the brave men he fought beside, most of whom have long since died.
The Celtic Song
This song is preferred among the Scottish as it is the song of their football team, the Glasgow Celtic, according to North American Celtic Supporters. Rather than recalling atrocities of the past, the "Celtic Song" asserts the Glasgow Celtic to be the best football club in all the land. The song also praises the loyalty of the fans, promising "we'll be there to give the boys a cheer/When the League Flag flies/And the cheers go up 'cos we know the Scottish Cup/Is coming home to rest at Paradise."
You'll Never Walk Alone
"You'll Never Walk Alone," written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, is the official song of the Liverpool football club, according to their website. The lyrics tell the listener to keep her head up during the storm and not to be afraid of the dark because "at the end of the storm/Is a golden sky/And the sweet silver song of a lark." The listener is further encouraged to keep walking through the bad conditions because she will never walk alone. The weather can be an obvious metaphor for tough times on the pitch or, since Liverpool football games are outdoors in rainy England, can be taken quite literally.
