Five Timeless Chants for Every Celtic Fan to Enjoy…
Every top football team gets blessed with an array of song choruses from the stands and those famous chants help the atmosphere swing along, but none more than Celtic. They are part and parcel of the football-going experience and throughout Celtic FC’s long and unbroken history, there have been an array of songs sung around Paradise.
The unique atmosphere created insideCeltic Park is unforgettable, and this appeal is often used to show the action of football in different contexts, even in online gambling. For instance, some of the top online casinos in UK gambling markets have football-themed slots in their game collection, where the developer tries to bring the electrifying atmosphere to life.
And at our stadium, chants are a big part of this special atmosphere. So, here are five top, timeless Celtic songs that have become staples for the crowd and can still be heard around Celtic Park to this day.
1. The Celtic Song
“Hail, Hail, the Celts are Here” in the opening words of The Celtic Song, “For it’s a Grand Old Team to play for, It’s a Grand Old Team to see”. It’s common to hear this one being belted out before kick-off and as the name suggests, the main refrain from the song is a big rallying cry from the fans to the Bhoys. “We’ll be there to give the Bhoys a cheer, when the League Flag Flies and the cheers go up when we know the Scottish Cup is coming home to rest in Paradise.” The Celtic Song remains one of the most significant chants from the Celtic support, as it pays homage to some of the great successes that the club have produced, and the club’s expectations to be the most successful football club in Scottish football.
2. You’ll Never Walk Alone
The song is also associated with Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund, yet there’s been much debate about which club laid claims to the ditty first, which was made popular by Gerry and the Pacemakers in the 1960s. Some believe it was picked up by Celtic fans after the two clubs met in the 1966 Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final, when a Belgian referee wrongly ruled out a Bobby Lennox goal to deny Celtic a place in the Final at Hampden. The referee later apologised, Celtic supporters took their own remedy and brought YNWA back to Paradise.
Regardless of how it found its way to Glasgow, hearing the famous song echo around Parkhead a cappella style, with passion-filled lines like “Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, And you’ll never walk alone, You’ll never walk alone” is spine-chillingly awesome when sung at Paradise but only on big occasions. For many, even neutrals, the Celtic rendition easily outdoes the Anfield Kop’s version of Dortmund’s Yellow Wall version.
3. Fields of Athenry
Hearing the Fields of Athenry being sung by 60,000 Celtics fans is another mind-blowing good experience. The song is an old Irish folk ballad, about a guy from Athenry in County Galway who stole food during the Great Famine and was moved to a penal colony in Australia by the British. This of course is an important tune for Celtic fans because it is a nod back to the club’s Irish heritage. A lot of Irish folk escaped the famine by fleeing to Scotland, and because of the deep historical link, the underlying tone of resilience within the Fields of Athenry resonates with the Celtic support among many other Irish tunes.
Grace has been a favourite in recent times while going further back God Save Ireland, The Solder’s Song, Boys of the Old Brigade and Sean South of Garyowen are important rebel songs for the Celtic support, who remember their heritage proudly.
4. Just Can’t Get Enough
Sometimes the players on the pitch just need a lift and Just Can’t Get Enough by 1980’s synth-pop group Depeche Mode is a popular song of choice for Celtic fans to do just that. Regardless of whether the Bhoys are in the mire, or are flourishing on the pitch, the song is sort of an audible love letter from the fans to the player to encourage them on. The song’s original lyrics have been adapted of course, with the opening of the Celtic version going “When I see you Celtic I go out of my head, I just can’t get enough I just can’t get enough”. It’s such a catchy, memorable tune that it’s a massively popular one for the Green Brigade to use to get the entire stadium bouncing.
5. Celtic Symphony
This chant comes from the legendary Irish folk band The Wolfe Tones who wrote the song for the Celtic’s centenary season. It’s about Celtic and is sometimes referred to as “Graffiti on the Wall”. The much-shortened Celtic version of the song goes through a couple of quick choruses, before an unforgettable repetition of “Ooh ah up the Ra, say ooh ah up the Ra” caps it off, with “Up the Celts and they’re magic” all this being the graffiti on the walls noticed by The Wolfe Tones on a visit to Glasgow in the 1980s to go to a Celtic match.
The chant first did the rounds with the Green Brigade, before it was picked up by the rest of the Celtic crowd and now it’s a firm favourite on all supporters buses – “here we go again, we’re on the road again, we’re on our way to Paradise”. It remains a huge anthem for The Wolfe Tones at concerts and festivals and has been brilliant for Celtic in Ireland, although unlike the other four songs mentioned it is not played at Celtic Park.
Plenty More
The Celtic support is vibrant, it’s vocal and if you are ever heading that way, keep an ear out for the above songs and more. Many other popular chants echo around the stadium on match day, of course, from “This is how it feels to be Celtic”, to the “67 Song” (In the Heat of Lisbon, the fans came in their thousands, to see the Bhoys become Champions, 67…” and “Let’s All Do the Huddle, we could add countless more to the list including “Jota on the Wing”.
It all adds up to a fantastic atmosphere at Celtic Park and at away games where the Celtic travelling support is always vocal and will always cheer on the team – “we don’t care if we win, lose or draw. What the hell do we care, for we only know that there’s going to be a show and the Glasgow Celtic will be there”…
I feel old! The first Celtic game I went to with a pal and no adult supervision was against Stirling Albion in 1961 when The Celtic Song was played over the loudspeaker system for the first time. I remember hearing my uncle and aunt talking about it around that time as the police wanted to ban it, thinking it would incite trouble!
By 1966 I was a regular in the “Choir ” at the Celtic End. The precursor perhaps of the Green Brigade? I was at the Liverpool semis in ECWC. I know there is some debate about when YNWA started being sung by Celtic fans, but based on the experience of my ears and eyes I can say that there is no way any Celtic fan would have dreamt of singing YNWA at those games. Anyone who was at the second leg will remember having to listen to YNWA coming from the Kop in the latter stages of the game. It has certainly become a great Celtic anthem but in 1966 it was a reminder of a loss in a game we could have won.