A bad football match and a great song

ManUtd's last outing in the Champions League did not yield the kind of result I expected to witness, as I sat and watched the match in the very early hours of Thursday morning. Apart from United's massive share of the possession of the ball, the only few things of note came from Celtic.

First, there was the goal from Scot McDonald. The Australian produced a magnificently executed lob over Ben Foster, with the the outside of his foot to open the scoring, after being put through by Garry Caldwell's pin-point header. The football fan in me certainly enjoyed it, but not the ManUtd supporter in me. These days, even I am confused about which part of me dominate..


Celtic fans with the Green Brigade Display at Parkhead (Image courtesy: Kerrydale Street )

The second, and more interesting thing was the amazing song the Celtic fans sang, and the passion with which they did so.(This is the second football-song related blog I write in a week :P ) . The way they sang the song, I felt somebody invisible was conducting a choir. They were really loud and proud.
And so, I sat digging the web to learn more about Celtic FC's songs. And the things I learned were interesting (things about football songs are always pretty interesting for me !) .
"Hail, Hail the Celts are here", or the Celtic song was first recorded by Glen Daly, legendary Scottish musician. It is believed to have originated from a song in an 1879 opera. Incidentally, Everton fans sing a variation of this song during matches.
Here is the lyrics of The Celtic Song, as sung by the Celtic fans at Parkhead :

Hail Hail, the Celts are here,
What the hell do we care,
What the hell do we care,
Hail Hail, the Celts are here,
What the hell do we care now

For it's a grand old team to play for,
For it's a grand old team to see,
And if you know your history,
Its enough to make your heart,
GO-OH-OH-OH!

We don't care what the animals say,
What the hell do we care,
For we only know,
That there's gonna be a show,
And the Glasgow Celtic will be there.

Sure it's the best darn team in Scotland
and the players they are grand,
We support the Celtic
'cos they are the finest in the land we love them.
We'll be there to give the Bhoys a cheer
When the League flag flies,
And the cheers go up 'cos we know the Scottish Cup
is coming home to rest at Paradise.

Some of the words of the song are replaced with abuses towards Rangers FC and their supporters, when the song is sang at the terraces, especially during The Old Firm matches. The Celtic Song can be downloaded here.

There are other songs associated with Celtic FC. The most prominent among these are "Hampden in the Sun"- a song about Celtic's 7-1 thrashing of their Old Firm rivals Rangers FC in the 1957 Scottish Cup Final, and "The Fields of Athenry"- an Irish song. They even have a variation of the "You Will Never Walk Alone" song, synonymous with Liverpool FC.