Good music touches human emotions. Supporting your team involves emotion, far more than anything rational: it involves a great deal of passion. The trouble with so called 'football songs' is that they tend to be trivial and do not go anywhere near deeper feelings.
The great songs associated with the beautiful game were not written with football in mind. The best known is 'You'll Never Walk Alone' - a song written for a musical about a fairground roundabout. 'Nessun Dorma' comes from an opera about a possible execution.
The songs sung by the fans on the terraces seem to emerge naturally, although many appear by imitation. 'Can't Help Falling In Love With You' is sung by the fans of many clubs and so cannot be considered as "Hull City's song."
Adam Pearson wants Hull City to have its own song, to be played - and hopefully sung along with - after the teams have emerged on the pitch to a fanfare.
At the Fans' Liaison Meeting this week there was discussion over possible songs. Roy Orbison's songs were mentioned. He wrote and sang many powerful ballads but some did not seem appropriate. 'Running Scared' might have been a possibility under previous management; 'Only The Lonely' is apt for supporters at City Reserves' away games while 'It's Over' has been too near the truth, too often. We don't want to go there again!
Finally, four songs were nominated for the fans to vote on. Unfortunately, for copyright reasons (and lack of space) we cannot quote all the words. It is planned for all four to be played at half-time in the final game at Boothferry Park.
'Keeping The Dream Alive' is probably the least known and was suggested by the representatives of the Tigers Co-op. However, when you hear this one, you will say that you've heard it before, because it turns up frequently on television and radio, especially in sports' broadcasts. It says that our hopes were too high but we had to try and the game will never be over because we're keeping the dream alive. It's an anthem for all those teams which have never achieved greatness but whose fans will always stick with them, no matter what.
'The Wonder Of You' is the best known and a favourite of those with a black belt in karioke, but in the second line it does say everything I do is wrong. Perhaps this is a bit negative and while it is certainly true of past regimes, we hope that it is no longer true today.
'Drift Away' is an excellent, beaty sing-a-long ditty with a simple catchy lyric but perhaps the fans would need to change the words. It begins by saying that every day I'm more confused and the chorus says that we want to get lost in rock 'n' roll. Maybe this should become 'lost in good football', but the word 'lost' is not one that fits easily into our vocabulary.
'(Something Inside) So Strong' is a passionate anthem but it takes time to build and it has a jerky rhythm, which would be difficult for the massed choirs of the East and South Stands to get into. They may need to have a lot of choir practice in local hostelries.
Perhaps the words of each song could be printed in the final Boothferry Park programme. Maybe our local radio stations will give them all an airing.
The ideal thing may be to play all four songs before home matches for the rest of the season and let the fans decide in the most positive way: by voting with their voices - singing one of them spontaneously during matches.
Several hundred of you have already renewed your membership of the Tigers Co-op and generously bought tickets in Hull City's End Of An Era Grand Draw. We are expecting to sell about a thousand pounds worth of tickets for City based on what we have sold so far.
If you have not renewed yet, return your £5 renewal and enjoy not only membership of the Co-op but also free membership of the Tigers Lair social club. All fully paid-up Co-op members are now entitled to claim free membership of the Lair, following a recent decision by the Tigers Independent Supporters Club committee.
Contact us at: Tigers Co-operative Ltd., P.O. Box 145, Brough HU15 1XP; telephone: 669230/868056; e-mail: committee@tigersco-op.org.uk; website: www.tigersco-op.org.uk