The Premier League runout songs from Star Wars to the Stone Roses

June 06, 2024

One of the most memorable and/or toe-curling scenes from the documentary series Sunderland ’Til I Die came when budding Ministry Of Sound DJ/new club director Charlie Methven discussed mixing things up music-wise.

To replace Dance Of The Knights, the foreboding Prokofiev piece which had been a staple at the Stadium of Light since it was built in the 1990s, Methven got out the figurative glow sticks and suggested they play Tiesto’s 2005 club smash Adagio For Strings. All while affecting a “Yeah, sure, I used to spin a little in my time… before I went to work for JP Morgan” vibe, which didn’t quite mesh with the locals.

While Methven’s approach may have made viewers cringe their spines out, he was right about something: the music to which teams walk onto the pitch is important, for atmosphere, tradition, familiarity and other reasons.

Arguably the most incongruous but well-established runout song in the Premier League is the theme from Z-Cars, which greets Everton’s players. For those unfamiliar with Z-Cars, it was a British TV show in the 1960s and 70s, mostly filmed in Lancashire, sometimes not far from Goodison Park.

One of the show’s stars, actor Leonard Williams, was an Everton fan who was invited to attend their 5-0 win over Blackpool in 1962, when the show was in its first flush of popularity. The song, which is based on an old Merseyside folk song or sea shanty called Johnny Todd, was played that day and became synonymous with Everton as they won the league that year. It remains to this day and has also been adopted by Watford.

It’s similar for Coming Home, better known as Going Home (Theme Of The Local Hero), which is Newcastle United’s signature tune. Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits wrote and performed the song. He was born in Glasgow but grew up in the Newcastle suburb of Gosforth and supported his local team.

Nobody is quite sure when it started to be played but the best guess, according to club historian Paul Joannou, is around 1992 or 1993, and fairly rapidly it became impossible to hear the song without thinking of Newcastle. When Shearer’s Bar opened in the Gallowgate End, Knopfler was there to perform the song.

The story of Manchester United’s tune of choice, This Is The One by the Stone Roses, is fairly well known: Gary Neville suggested it at some point in the early 2000s and it stuck. It’s also former United midfielder Nicky Butt’s favourite song and Roses frontman Ian Brown performed it at Neville’s testimonial in 2011.

Also fairly self-explanatory is the Leeds United anthem Marching On Together, which is officially called Leeds! Leeds! Leeds! and started life as a B-side to their 1972 FA Cup final song Leeds United (Play All The Way). Marching On Together quickly became the more popular tune, made it onto the terraces and subsequently the Elland Road tannoy.

Tottenham’s choice of Duel Of The Fates, the climactic theme to the first Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace, wasn’t inspired by a deep love of mediocre sci-fi films or a desire for a critical reappraisal of Jar Jar Binks. Although that would have been reason enough.

Instead, it stemmed from the North London derby in 2004: Spurs wanted to create a pre-game montage to beef up the atmosphere at White Hart Lane, so put together one soundtracked by a movement from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. You’ll know it — very dramatic.

It did beef up the atmosphere — although Arsenal scored after two minutes and ultimately got the point that secured the league title — so they wanted to create similar montages for future games.

Sky helped them make a new one, this time with Duel Of The Fates over the top. The montage was frequently updated but the music remained and became a sort of tradition. Recently, however, they have started to mix it up with Glory, Glory Tottenham Hotspur and Enter Sandman by Metallica thrown in occasionally.

If you’ve ever been to Brighton’s stadium, you’ll be familiar with the rousing oompah ditty Sussex By The Sea, a marching song dating from 1907 written by William Ward-Higgs. He was from Lancashire and only lived on the south coast for a few years, but was moved to write an anthem celebrating his adopted home.

It was heard around the county at events and became a sort of unofficial Sussex anthem before being adopted by Brighton when they moved to the Amex in 2011 to emphasise that they were home. A brass band number isn’t the most obvious choice for a rousing, 21st-century atmosphere-builder, but it really does work.

Bournemouth had to change their runout song earlier this season, due to either — delete as applicable to whichever side of the culture wars you sit on — woke PC warriors or the club not wishing to be associated with antisemitism. They had been entering the pitch to the pounding Kanye West anthem Power, but after ol’ Ye started to express admiration for Hitler and whatnot, they thought switching was a good idea. They now emerge to Seven Nation Army, presumably chosen because it’s the most ubiquitous football anthem around so impossible to be offensive to anyone.

A trip to Molineux will see you greeted by Hi Ho Silver Lining pre kick-off, but that hasn’t always been the case. Like a few other clubs, the song of choice used to be The Liquidator, a reggae instrumental by the Harry J Allstars, but it was quietly shuffled off the playlist because Wolves fans would greet the six-beat ending to the main riff by bellowing “F*** OFF WEST BROM — THE WOLVES”. Some travelling supporters look forward to away games against the Baggies and Chelsea, where it is still played, just for the opportunity to relive former days.

The Liquidator has been a staple at Chelsea almost since it came out in 1969. The exact story is a little hazy, but this is one of those songs that seems to have made its way to a stadium PA system fairly organically, with the song frequently played in west London pubs around its release, which translated to them singing it on the terraces, then it started to be played before games. It has been played at Stamford Bridge for years, but only relatively recently became the tune to greet the arrival of the players on the pitch.

It’s a similar story for Glad All Over and You’ll Never Walk Alone. In the 1960s, there was a strong terrace culture of singing songs in the hit parade of the day, particularly on the Kop at Anfield, and particularly songs by local artists. There were plenty of Liverpudlian acts to choose from, one of which was Gerry and the Pacemakers, whose version of You’ll Never Walk Alone became Liverpool’s signature tune soon after its release in 1963.

Likewise with Crystal Palace, where fans would sing Glad All Over by the Dave Clark Five, who would later play a show at Selhurst Park. It became adopted as the unofficial club anthem, then an official club anthem when the players recorded a version in celebration of reaching the 1990 FA Cup final (check out a young Alan Pardew smoothly grooving in this clip). It is now played as the teams walk out, flanked by The Crystals, Palace’s cheerleading troupe.

That’s also how Blue Moon became the song of choice for Manchester City, although there are competing theories about when it started. One tale says towards the end of the 1989-90 season when fans sang it after their first top-flight win on the road in 41 games, because City only won away ‘once in a blue moon’.

That feels a little on the nose. The writer and City historian Gary James’ theory seems more plausible. “The first time I can ever recall it being sung was at the opening game of the 1989-90 season at Liverpool,” he told the club’s website. “City fans were kept behind for a while after the match and a few lads started singing it as we started to make our way out. They sang a sort of melancholic version, but it caught on.”

Speaking of melancholic songs with unclear origin stories, West Ham’s run-out song is another long-standing terrace anthem. I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles was originally a hit for American jazz band Ben Selvin’s Novelty Orchestra in 1919, later made popular in England by Vera Lynn.

Again, there are a few different origin stories — from West Ham fans being inspired by Swansea fans singing it, to it being a tribute to a youth player who resembled a character called Bubbles from a soap advert, to the song being sung in the underground shelters of East London during World War II and making its way to Upton Park.

Either way, it’s been a Hammers staple for years, with the wah-wah synth version recorded by the 1975 FA Cup final team being played as the teams come out at Upton Park, and now the London Stadium.

In years gone by, Nottingham Forest used to greet the teams with the theme from Errol Flynn’s 1938 film The Adventures Of Robin Hood, a jaunty little number but perhaps not one to strike fear into opposition hearts.

These days they go for a medley, played at the requisite ear-splitting volume, designed to pump up the vibe a little more. The sequence goes: Born Slippy (Nuxx) by Underworld; Freed From Desire by Gala, now beloved because it was played straight after the play-off final last May; then Insomnia by Faithless; Sandstorm by Darude and Welcome To The Jungle by Guns ’n’ Roses.

Then, when the speakers have stopped vibrating, Mull Of Kintyre is played, with the second part of the chorus dropped so the home fans can belt it out. Their version of the song, with the lyrics changed to “City Ground… oh mist rolling in from the Trent”, has been around since Paul McCartney’s original was released in 1977 and became a terrace staple when they won the league title under Brian Clough in 1978.

Finally, we travel to the south coast. These days Southampton take to the pitch accompanied by the self-explanatory When The Saints Go Marching In, one of the more literal walk-on tunes on this list, followed by Insomnia to get the blood flowing a bit more.

But a few years ago a delegation of players, led by defender Jose Fonte, almost changed that when they recorded a version of My Way, but with Southampton-specific lyrics, including a scansion-busting reference to former owner Markus Liebherr.

It was played before games for a little while but was quietly retired. Good job, too, otherwise there might not have been room for their fans to dance to Firestarter by the Prodigy.

These songs arrive in stadiums for various reasons, via various circuitous routes, from various people.

They can be organic, traditional or a little more cynically introduced.

Just don’t let someone choose one for a Netflix documentary.

You’ve read the piece, so now enjoy this Spotify playlist featuring some of the songs mentioned:

(Top image photo: Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images; aleksandarvelasevic via iStock)

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