Song of the Day 1/2: Brittany Howard, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”

So I’m minding my own business the other night, reading online while my wife watched TV, when the speakers swelled with someone singing what sounded like a gospel song. I looked up and there was Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes belting out this tear-jerker from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Carousel,” better known to younger generations as the Liverpool football club’s anthem. The phrase is even incorporated into the team’s coat of arms.

Its power has been obvious from the first. Irving Berlin said that “You’ll Never Walk Alone” had the same sort of effect on him as the 23rd Psalm. When Mel Tormé told Rodgers that “You’ll Never Walk Alone” had made him cry, Rodgers responded, “You’re supposed to.”

The tune has gotten a workout this past year. Britons adopted it as a tribute to health care workers during the pandemic, with Marcus Mumford cutting a version for charity and Lana Del Rey doing an a cappella version for a new documentary about Liverpool FC. Neither one approaches the power of Howard’s rendition, which makes for a head-turning TV ad, though what it has to do with Scotch I’ll never know.

In “Carousel” the song is featured twice — the first time to console Julie after the death of her husband Billy Bigelow, the second at the close of the show, when Bigelow is allowed to return to Earth from purgatory, in spirit form, to try to make amends for his misdeeds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFzaCs95Q3c

Liverpudlians adopted the song in 1963, when hometown hitmakers Gerry and the Pacemakers released a version that soared to the top of the British charts and performed it before a match at Anfield. Its popularity was sealed after 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death in the 1989 Hillborough stadium disaster.