I have always been interested in the Celtic support and the culture that accompanies being a Celtic fan. I studied various aspects of the support from Brake Clubs to supporters clubs, culminating in my first book Our Stories & Our Songs: The Celtic Support.
Recently, in the midst of lockdown, I thought about all the live videos us Celtic fans are able to watch and how fortunate we are compared to fans of other clubs. We have a whole array of Irish ballads, historical and political, whilst the musical culture in our club and support’s Irish roots has led to many folk style songs being written and sang about the football club itself.
There are many great Celtic songs, totally unique in nature. Other clubs have an anthem or one or two songs with verse and chorus. Celtic have multiple. Nearly every triumph and tragedy is recorded.
As a bit of fun, I put out a poll on my website to see what the greatest Celtic song ever written was.
From a list comprising of the following songs, I asked for votes to narrow it down to just four:
Bye Bye Rangers, Piling On The Agony, Over & Over, Four Leaf Clover, Hampden In The Sun, Celtic On The Ball, The Coronation Cup Song, Celtic That’s The Team For Me, I’m Coming Home Glasgow Celtic, Jackie McNamara, Lord Of The Wing, 25th May, The Day We Won In Lisbon, Raised The Flag On High, Raised On Celtic, Johnny Doyle etc.
Ultimately, these four options were voted more popular than the above: Willie Maley, Celtic Symphony, The Celtic Song and World Club Championship song. I put those four into a twitter poll, which ran for 24 hours, and after 435 votes it’s a tie between Celtic Symphony and The Celtic Song!
We have a very unique songbook and these two are cracking songs. The Celtic Song is steeped in tradition and is one of the oldest in football. Meanwhile, Celtic Symphony is possibly one of the most bizzare songs, yet also one of the loudest when belted by the full stadium.
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