"The Celtic Song" is the song played over the public address system at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is also ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

when the Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

run onto the pitch before kick-off. Part of the song is set to an arrangement of part of the tune of "With cat-like tread", from the 1879

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

The Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 ...

'', with lyrics adapted from the American song "

Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here is an American popular song first published in 1917. The lyrics, written by D. A. Esrom (pseudonym of Theodora Morse) to a tune composed by Arthur Sullivan for the 1879 comic opera ''The Pirates of Penzance'', are ...

". The "It's a grand old team" section, however, bears no resemblance to "With cat-like tread". There are many versions of the song. However, the original version, played at

Parkhead Parkhead ( sco, Pairkheid) is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necropo ...

, was recorded by

Glen Daly Glen Daly (born Bartholomew Francis McGovern McCann Dick (1920–1987) was a Scottish singer and entertainer. Career Daly was born in Calton, Glasgow, where he attended St Mary's School. On completing his education he started work in the Clyde ...

in 1961. To mark the 50th anniversary of the original release,

Shane MacGowan Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan (born 25 December 1957) is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. He was also a member of the Nipple Erectors and Shane MacGo ...

recorded his version in 2011. Versions of the song are sung by supporters of other clubs around Britain, most notably by

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

fans (since the

1967 FA Cup Final The 1967 FA Cup Final was the 86th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 20 May 1967 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. It was the first FA Cup Final to be contested between two teams from London, and is t ...

), fans of Hibernian in Edinburgh, and Everton Fans – "

The Everton Song Everton Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool that competes in the Premier League, the top tier of Football in England, English football. The club was a founder member of the English Football ...

" is a more ribald rendition by the fans of Everton.

Lyrics

Sure it's a grand old team to play for, Sure it's a grand old team bedad, When you read its history, It's enough to make your heart grow sad, God bless them. We don't care if we win, lose or draw, Darn the hair do we care, Because we only know that there's going to be a show, And the

Glasgow Celtic The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

will be there. Sure it's the best darn team in Scotland, And the players all are grand, We support the Celtic, As 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 it cheers us up when we know the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

. Sure it's a grand old team to play for, Yes it's a grand old team bedad, When we read its history, It's enough to make your heart grow sad, God bless them. We don't care if we win lose or draw, Darn the hair do we care, Because we only know that there's going to be a show, And the Glasgow Celtic will be there, And the Glasgow Celtic will be there.

As sung on the terraces (and in pubs)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Celtic Song, The Celtic F.C. songs Association football songs and chants