You’ll Never Walk Alone
and a Youtube video to make your heart soar
As I guess the kids say today: “there’s a lot going on in this video”.
It’s only two minutes in length and for the first 25 seconds or so it’s simply one man, namely Iain Gordon, sitting alone at a piano until, with a creeping recognition of the song he’s playing dawning among a scattering of football fans on presumably a match day in Glasgow for the home team “Bhoys” of Celtic, a first chorus of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” begins to fill the air as Iain smiles gently and nods his approval. There are two older gentlemen behind him who will smile approvingly (before later filming the second chorus), a young lady walks into shot (behind the piano playing genius and in front of the glittering lights of the fruit machine) and as the volume increases for the first chorus a young man at the rear of the pub rises to his feet to film the event as a larger gentleman walks in front of him, singing as he goes, before standing beside a still smiling piano player having the time of his life. The smiles are infectious. The volume is at its zenith (or is it?) as the young lady from earlier skirts the bar and in front a young man cradling three pints in a manner I never mastered in my pub going days, but we have a second chorus to come, and Iain leads up to it magnificently and as only a master of his art can, tinkling those ivories PERFECTLY (not a bum note to be heard) that even the “away” fans in red shirts behind him are transfixed as he approaches the song’s denouement.
A grand finale, handshakes all round, a punch of the air for a perfect rendition from the pianist, and then what seems like the turning down of a celebratory drink before departing the pub for pastures new and hopefully another piano in another Scottish bar in May 2018.
As a Liverpool fan it’s easy for me to adore this and watch over and over (and over) again, and I have, and I probably will until the end of time. I could also embellish this further by remarking on how life was pre 2020 lockdown, the rare and simple pleasure this must have been to be one of those two older gentlemen behind Iain, the regulars stood at the bar with the best view in the house or the four “away” fans in red who just stopped talking and turned around to marvel at the master on the piano. There’s only an audience of a maximum of 20 people, but bhoy (sic) do I wish, even now, to have been the 21st and yet, for many years, I have been, as I’ve watched this video on far, far too many occasions to admit to in polite society.
And I’ve sobbed my heart out along the way too.
I rarely read the comments on Youtube videos but today (19th March 2025) I did and so today I found out that Iain passed away last year. Read the comments for yourself and you’ll find an abundance of love for this much missed, Celtic loving, piano teacher. Sharing this video was also one of the final things I ever did with my dear old Mum, holding my phone against the laptop so she could hear the audio. Memories eh?
So this is for Maureen, and for Iain.
You’ll Never Walk Alone.
My two books on the Mighty Reds of Liverpool:
"A final word from The Boss" - link to Amazon
"Chasing the Impossible and a Sword of Damocles" - link to Amazon