By Far the Greatest Team The World Has Ever Seen, And it’s Liv-er-pool | OneFootball

There really aren’t that many songs that Liverpool supporters actively choose to sing that are effectively the same as those sung by other sets of supporters when you break it down and look at it. Yes, other teams have taken songs introduced to the UK by Reds, such as Poetry in Motion, and made their own versions, but when it comes to the generic, that is something that the Kop choir tends to steer clear of.

One example of such a song that you can read about elsewhere on this site is When the Reds Go Marching In, which is essentially When the Saints Go Marching In with different lyrics. This song is another such example.

An Old Song Rejigged

from Ireland, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

It was claimed by Brian Peters in the tenth volume of Folk Music Journal, an English folk song and dance periodical, that The Wild Rover was written by Thomas Lanfiere in the 17th century. Quite how much truth there is to that is difficult to ascertain, but it’s fair to say that the song has been around since long before the modern version of football was formalised. Soon, it began to evolve into different versions that were popular in Scotland, Ireland and North America, telling the story of a young man who has not been to his hometown for a long time, returning to his former alehouse only to initially be refused credit by the landlady.

If you’re wondering what any of that has to do with a song sung by both Liverpool fans and supporters of other clubs up and down the land, the answer comes in the tune of the song. More accurately, it is in the tune that the chorus is sung to, with the following being the words to the chorus that most of you will immediately know how to sing:

And it’s no, nay, never,

No, nay, never no more,

Will I play the wild rover

No, never, no more!

At some point, the tune made it onto the football terraces, with the words being changed in order to represent the idea that the football team playing, about whom the supporters are singing, is the best side that there has ever been. Whilst there are definitely some Liverpool teams that can lay claim to that, the same isn’t true of every side up and down the country that has this sung about them on a regular basis. The joy of Liverpool is that the three syllables of the name can be broken up easily to fit the tune, whereas some clubs have to try a bit harder to make it work.



Here are the lyrics that the Kop chooses to opt for:

And it’s Liv-er-pool

Liverpool FC,

We’re by far the greatest team

The world has ever seen!

(Repeat)