Reckon you know the words to every Liverpool song? Think again...
One eagle-eyed fan has unearthed what could be the first ever football song dating back more than 100 years - and it was written by a Kopite.
The lyrics and music to Hurrah to the Reds - a new version of which you can listen to by clicking on the play button below - were discovered by lfchistory.net editor Arnie Baldursson while scouring the Liverpool Echo in the city's library.
Incredibly it was written in 1907 - more than half a century before the previous first-known Kop song.
LFC Museum curator Stephen Done said: "It's the oldest we've heard of - we don't know of anything earlier.
"I wasn't aware there was singing and this kind of football culture back then - it's a huge surprise.
"The fact that they've gone to the trouble of writing it all down and printed the music suggests it was sung and popular at the time.
"I can't be definitive on this but it could be the first ever football song. So come on Burnley - or another of the really old clubs - find one that's older. The gauntlet has been thrown down.
"We are a club that's noted for singing and how lovely it is that we seem to have the oldest song."
Done's previous belief was that a tribute to Billy Liddell to the tune of That's Amorewas the first song to echo around the Kop in the late 1950s, though simple chants were heard before that.
You'll Never Walk Alone was first sung in 1963.
"The general feeling was that it was after wartime, when football enjoyed a flourish, that singing really caught on," explained Done. "Everything we know about singing and terrace culture really dates from the post-war period.
"The Kop became world famous for singing in the 1960s, but that was a story - we couldn't base it on hard facts. So to discover a football song from 1907 is incredible!
"It would appear now that the idea of Kopites and our culture really dates almost back to the beginning of the club in 1892."
The lyrics to Hurrah to the Reds honour players such as Bill McPherson, Joe Hewitt, Arthur Goddard, Jack Cox, Alex Raisbeck and Sam Hardy.
They go: Hurrah for the boys to play the game, Hurrah for the Reds! Hurrah for the boys there's none can tame, Hurrah for the Reds! There's Hew-itt and Mac to lead the at-tack! With Har-dy to hold the fort, boys. There's God-dard and Cox, and Rais-beck the fox. And more of the good old sort, boys. Hur-rah Hur-rah Hur-rah Hur-rah, Hur-rah for the Reds!
Done added: "The language doesn't sound Edwardian. I love the idea of Raisbeck the fox - or the fox in the box. He is unquestionably the first great footballing hero of Liverpool Football Club.
"It brings that period alive and you realise that there were a load of people on the Kop singing about their heroes - no different to how it is now."
The song was discovered by Baldursson while reading a copy of The Echo dated September 7, 1907. It was apparently written by a Mr W Seddon a week earlier.
"I could hardly believe that I had come across this song," said Baldursson. "I hadn't expected to find a club song so way back in time only 15 years after Liverpool Football Club was founded and with notes attached so you could reproduce."
And reproduce it is exactly what Baldursson did, asking local singer/songwriter Paul Wilkes to put Hurrah to the Reds down on record.
The Kop historian then sent it to a friend who took it upon himself to modernise the lyrics - with this version now being sung in The Park pub on Walton Breck Road prior to every game.
The new version goes: Hurray for the Reds that play the game, Hurray for the Reds! Hurray for the Reds that none contain, Hurray for the Reds. There's Carra about who leads with a shout and Reina to hold the fort, boys. There's Gerrard and Cole who plays in the hole with Torres to score the goals, boys. Hurray Hurray Hurray Hurray, Hurray for the Reds!
With Hurrah to the Reds already proving popular among ardent supporters, it appears as though it is only a matter of time before Baldursson's discovery is echoing round our famous stadium alongside numbers you already know the words to.
Hurrah for the Reds was arranged and performed by Paul Wilkes of the bandWilson Minds who are managed by Z Management. Paul is currently working on Wilson Minds' debut album with Brit Award winner Chris Potter, who famously produced The Verve's Urban Hymns album.
Author: Jimmy Rice
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