There are only three songs by Gerry and the Pacemakers that I have played before:  Ferry Cross the Mersey (2); Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying; and I’m Telling You Now.  Last time I played Ferry Cross the Mersey in 2021, several readers mentioned this one, You’ll Never Walk Alone.  I’m sure that at the time I intended to play it shortly thereafter, but as happens to many of my plans, that thought went astray and I never played it.  So tonight, I was thinking to redux Ferry Cross the Mersey, but when I looked back at the comments, saw the suggestions for this one, I decided to change course and play this instead.

I was surprised to learn that this was originally written for the 1945 musical Carousel. It was sung in the original show by Christine Johnson.

According to SongFacts …

Frank Sinatra was the first artist to take this song into the charts (#9 on the Billboard charts in 1945). It soon became very popular as many who had lost loved ones during the war took solace in the lyrics. Judy Garland recorded a well-known version, and in the 1950s several American rock n rollers sang it, including Conway Twitty, Gene Vincent and Johnny Preston.

Gerry & the Pacemakers had included the song in their stage act for a long time. When they decided to record it as their third single, producer George Martin enhanced the song by adding strings. When it topped the UK chart, they became the first act to reach #1 in the UK with their first three singles. Soon afterwards, it was adopted by the fans of Liverpool Football Club as the club’s anthem.

Elvis Presley covered this song, releasing it as a single in 1968. His was one of four versions of the song to chart in the US in the ’60s:

• 1964 Patti LaBelle & Her Blue Belles (#34)
• 1965 Gerry & The Pacemakers (#48)
• 1968 Elvis Presley (#90)
• 1969 The Brooklyn Bridge (#51)

Following a damning report into the 1989 Hillsborough disaster in which 96 football fans died, Liverpool Walton MP Steve Rotheram started a campaign to get this song back into the UK charts. As a result it returned to the UK top 20 in September 2012 with the proceeds being donated to Hillsborough-related charities.

Radio stations across Europe, including the BBC, joined forces to simultaneously play “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in a show of solidarity against coronavirus. The song ran out at 7:45 a.m. GMT on March 20, 2020, on hundreds of European radio stations. Dutch radio presenter Sander Hoogendoorn of 3FM, who came up with the idea, explained: “We all have to do what we can to beat this crisis. Things like this just go beyond the boundaries of radio channels. [The song] could speak to those doing an incredible job working in healthcare right now, those who are ill or those who can’t leave their house for a while.”

This topped a “lockdown listening list” collated by The Official Charts Company of the UK’s most popular coronavirus quarantine tracks. They compiled the survey by analyzing the songs that had the biggest percentage increase in listens and purchases, March 23-29, 2020, the week after Britain went into lockdown. They found a mixture of “uplifting classics” and “apocalyptic isolation” tunes being blasted from the nation’s speakers as folks adjusted to life in the COVID-19 era.

99-year-old Captain Tom Moore joined forces with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices Of Care Choir to record a charity cover in April 2020. The war veteran captured the UK nation’s hearts by raising over £26 million ($32 million) for the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic by walking lengths of his garden.

All proceeds are being donated to Captain Tom Moore’s 100th Birthday Walk in aid of NHS Charities Together, which supports the NHS staff and volunteers caring for coronavirus patients.

Captain Tom Moore’s version entered the UK chart at #1, making Moore – six days short of his 100th birthday – the oldest person to achieve a chart-topping single.

In March 2021, a few months after Gerry Marsden died, Brittany Howard and Chris Martin performed “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as part of the “In Memoriam” segment on the Grammy Awards.

The Pacemakers’ version reached #1 in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK, #31 in Canada, and #48 in the U.S.

You’ll Never Walk Alone

Gerry and the Pacemakers

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don’t be afraid of the dark

At the end of a storm
There’s a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
For your dreams be tossed and blown

Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone

Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone

You’ll never walk alone

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Oscar Hammerstein II / Richard Rodgers

You’ll Never Walk Alone lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc