The arrival of a TV in people’s houses in the late 1950s and early 1960s opened new horizons. Football was very rarely allowed on TV, but there was no problem with Rugby, and there we were sometime about 1961 sitting down to watch Wales v Scotland from Cardiff Arms Park. But first there was “Land Of Our Fathers”. Words like “goose bumps” would be used a lot today to describe the reaction, even in someone who had never been to Wales in his life, and even in someone who was wanting the other team to win! And the veteran Celtic supporter sitting in the corner with his pipe sighed and said “Parkheid used to be like that!”
He was talking about the community singing of “Erin’s Green Valleys” or “Hail Glorious St Patrick” which used to be sung very impressively with everyone knowing the tune and no-one trying to jazz it up, usually at the start of the game. There are of course many Celtic variants like “In the fight against Rangers, in the fight for the Cup, the game had just started when McPhail put us one up” and of course the geographically absurd line of “Erin’s green valleys look down on Parkhead”, which was nevertheless sung with gusto and enthusiasm, notably at the end of the 1933 Scottish Cup final – a dull day and a dull game lightened only by Jimmy McGrory’s tap in – when the end of the game was characterised by the passionate rendering of this song.
So what about getting something to rhyme with Parkhead? At one point in the 1890s, the captain was Dan Doyle and one of his nicknames was Ned. So we could have “With banners of green and with brave captain Ned, let Erin’s green valleys look down on Parkhead” It still did not make a huge amount of sense with the valleys looking down on our Stadium, but progress had been made in another verse where St Patrick could be “…Erin’s great pride, look down on the Celts on the banks of the Clyde”.
Such things are of less importance than the main issue which is that we could do with, as Liam Kelly has suggested this St Patrick’s Day afternoon, the resurrection of this great song. I am always a great admirer of the Green Brigade for their enthusiasm and noise. Perhaps some of the many creative young men in this group could organise the resurgence of this great song. Not that we have any lack of songs, but this is a good one.
David Potter
Video: Hail Glorious St Patrick, An Old Celtic Classic | The Celtic Star https://t.co/qFZuEDrW8l
— The Celtic Star Editor (@CelticStarMag) March 17, 2021
COMING SOON…
