Oh When the Reds, Go Marching In – Classic Kop Song | OneFootball

There aren’t many songs that Liverpool share with other football clubs, apart from those that the Reds brought over from European competition before being stolen by other sets of supporters. It is weird to hear Arsenal fans singing a song to the tune of We’ve Conquered All of Europe when, at the time of writing, they haven’t.

Still, it is always amusing to hear supporters of other clubs sing songs that the Kop introduced to English football, then turn up at Anfield and ask ‘where’s your famous atmosphere?’ One song that the Reds do share with others is this one, albeit it is sung to different lyrics by most other supporters.

It is a Traditional Song

Alphonse Hénaff, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The truth of the matter is that this is one of the most traditional songs in general, let alone when it comes to football. When the Saints Go Marching In was a song that originated out of African-American spiritualism, often played by the likes of jazz bands and recorded by Louis Armstrong and his orchestra in 1938. The song’s exact origins are hard to pin down, but it is likely to have been around almost as long as football as a sport has existed. The club that is arguably more closely associated with it is Southampton, which makes complete sense when you bear in mind that that football club’s nickname is ‘the Saints’.

Interestingly, there is some evidence to suggest that Liverpool supporters were the first to sing it in the United Kingdom, doing so to honour Ian St John during the 1960s. In those days, the original lyrics will have been used, but as the years went by, they gradually got adapted to reflect the colour of the kit that the players line up in, rather than the name of one of the players. Just like clubs such as Aberdeen, Adelaide United and Toronto FC from other parts of the world, people inside Anfield substitute ‘Saints’ for ‘Reds’ in order to properly reflect those that they are offering their support for.



Here is what gets sung when the Kop is in the mood to bring this ditty out for an airing, often performed in something of a call and repeat style:

Oh when the Reds,

(Oh when the Reds!)

Go marching in,

(Go marching in!)

Oh when the Reds

Go marching in,

I wanna be in that number,

Oh when the Reds

Go marching in!

(Repeat)