Anyone who has ever been to Anfield, attended an away game or simply watched Liverpool playing on television will almost certainly have heard the club’s supporters singing Fields of Anfield Road. A mainstay of the songbook for many years, what are the lyrics, where did it come from and what’s it all about?
The Fields of Athenry
In 1979, Dublin-born Pete St John wrote a song called The Fields of Athenry, which was sung in the style of an Irish folk ballad. Set during the country’s Great Famine of the 1840s, it tells the story of a fictional man from Athenry, County Galway, who stole food in order to feed his starving family before being sentenced to be sent to the Australian penal colony at Botany Bay.
Such is the nature of the song and the manner in which it lends itself to being sung by crowds of people, the likes of the supporters of the Republic of Ireland and Celtic sing it, as do those watching GAA matches, in addition to numerous rugby fans.
@ezmaygracemusic The Fields of Athenry 🌾 #thefieldsofathenry #irishfolk #countygalway #irish #folkmusic ♬ original sound – Ezmay Grace
Although the lyrics are much longer than this when it comes to the full song, the part of it that Liverpool supporters decided to adapt goes like this:
By a lonely prison wall, I heard a young girl calling
“Michael, they have taken you away
For you stole Trevelyan’s corn
So the young might see the morn
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay”
Low lie the Fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small free birds fly
Our love was on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
It’s so lonely ’round the Fields of Athenry.
Adapted Lyrics
A Liverpool supporter named Gary ‘Fergo’ Ferguson is widely considered to have adapted the song in order to make it about the Reds, perhaps reflecting the strong connection between Merseyside and the island of Ireland. The Huyton resident sent his version to Liverpool Football Club, which soon saw it sung by the Kop during home matches.
The full version of Ferguson’s song contains two verses, whilst a third verse was co-written by John Power, the man behind Liverpool bands Cast and the La’s, in 2009 in order to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster.
Here is how the Liverpool FC-specific version goes:
Outside the Shankly Gates
I heard a Kopite calling
Shankly, they have taken you away
But you left a great eleven
Before you went to Heaven
Now it’s glory round the Fields of Anfield Road
All round the Fields of Anfield Road
Where once we watched the King Kenny play
(And could he play)
Stevie Heighway on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
Of the glory round the Fields of Anfield Road
Outside the Paisley Gates
I heard a Kopite calling
Paisley, they have taken you away
But you led the great eleven
Back in Rome in ’77
And the Redmen they’re still playing the same way
All round the Fields of Anfield Road
Where once we watched the King Kenny play
(And could he play)
Stevie Heighway on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
Of the glory round the Fields of Anfield Road
Beside the Hillsborough Flame
I heard a Kopite mourning
Why so many taken on that day?
Justice has never been done
But their memory will carry on
There’ll be glory around the Fields of Anfield Road
All round the Fields of Anfield Road
Where once we watched the King Kenny play
(And could he play)
Stevie Heighway on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
Of the glory round the Fields of Anfield Road
All round the Fields of Anfield Road
Where once we watched the King Kenny play
(And could he play)
Stevie Heighway on the wing
We had dreams and songs to sing
Of the glory round the Fields of Anfield Road
Whilst only the chorus is sung most of the time, it is good to get a sense of the actual lyrics of the song that gets sung by Kopites during home and away matches.
