FeatureHow 'A Liver Bird Upon My Chest' soundtracked Liverpool's 20th title success
Liverpool’s most successful and adventurous seasons often tend to be soundtracked by a single song that emerges in the stands as its theme.
Usually the tune is a new addition to the Kop’s rich chorus, picked up by a chance happening or circumstance during the campaign.
Ring of Fire, of course, accompanied the Reds’ unbelievable journey to Champions League glory in 2005, and more recently thrilling European nights under Jürgen Klopp took place to the noise of Allez, Allez, Allez.
But in 2024-25, as Arne Slot’s Liverpool team have cruised to the 20th league title in club history, it was an old favourite rekindled that took firmest hold among supporters.
Four decades old, in fact.
It was the mid-1980s when Reds fan Phil Aspinall was watching 1968 war film The Green Berets and the music played out over the end credits – Ken Darby’s rendition of The Ballad of the Green Berets, written by Barry Sadler and Robin Moore – sparked a moment of inspiration.
And so, A Liver Bird Upon My Chest was born.
“I thought to myself, ‘What a song that would be for the match and for Liverpool.’ So I just started writing words down with a verse here and a verse there and then it all came together,” explained Aspinall.
“I wrote the first lines about when we won 3-1 against Everton at Wembley to win the double in 1986. That was the original section and then I started adding extra verses on… and it got far too long for the terraces!”
Too long a tune for inside the stadium perhaps, but perfect for the extended journeys travelling around the country and Europe supporting the Reds, whether in a car, coach, train, plane or pub, whether celebrating victories or being defiant in defeat.
Aspinall’s original composition has been adapted, amended and extended over the past 40 years and now spans more than 10 verses.
“The best renditions I ever heard were sung by Phil, Lenny Woods and Bobby Wilcox after the matches in the late ’80s when we’d drink in The Albert,” said Peter Hooton of The Farm.
“I’d always remember them sitting in the corner coming out with all of these incredible songs. People used to listen to A Liver Bird Upon My Chest for over an hour there because it just went on and on.”
Much of the early verses poke light-hearted fun at neighbours Everton. There follows special odes to historic Liverpool teams of 1965 and 1988, tributes to former managers Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan. And a poignant commemoration of the 97 victims of the Hillsborough disaster.
Anchoring the entire thing is Aspinall’s sublime chorus.
A Liver bird upon my chest,
We are men of Shankly’s best,
A team that plays the Liverpool Way,
And wins the championship in May.
For long spells in the years after its creation, Reds fans were unable to sing those lines with true conviction that they would actually unfold before them.
But at the turn of the year, as Slot’s current crop mounted an ever more significant charge towards the Premier League title – which they secured for certain on Sunday – A Liver Bird Upon My Chest took off with new gusto.
January’s trip to PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League was a particular catalyst for the ditty’s more widespread use.
And the strength and frequency of its airings – in the form of the chorus being repeated – have only grown as Liverpool moved closer and closer to the trophy.
Hope to belief to expectancy. And now reality.
Liverpool will lift the championship in May.
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“I still feel a great sense of joy when I hear it sung and that it’s still remembered,” said Aspinall.
“It’s so special to see younger fans picking up the torch and keeping it alive.”
And who knows, perhaps the Reds’ vintage of 2024-25 will be immortalised in their own verse of A Liver Bird Upon My Chest one day.
Does anything rhyme with ‘Wins the championship in April’?