that’s folk music

jack white’s own example (2016): at the end of yankee doodle dandy, george m. cohan marches with soldiers singing his song, and they don’t know he wrote it.

a spiritual credited to wallace willis in the 1860s; in 1988, as chris oti scored three tries at twickenham, england’s rugby crowd took it up.

no one knows who wrote it; armstrong’s 1938 record made it a standard, and southampton’s fans, the saints, sing it as their own.

joseíto fernández’s cuban tune with josé martí’s verses; english terraces sing “you only sing when you’re winning” to it.

from rodgers and hammerstein’s carousel (1945); with gerry’s record in the 1963 charts, the kop at anfield sang it back. “they’re singing my song,” he recalled.

rodgers and hart, 1934; manchester city’s fans took it up at the end of the 1980s (their historian first heard it in 1989).

recorded as a throwaway b-side by a band that didn’t exist; in 1977 the white sox organist nancy faust played it to see off visiting pitchers, and ballparks sang along.

played at fenway park since 1997; at euro 2020, wembley’s dj played it and england’s fans made it their tournament song.

village people’s 1979 song, covered in 1993; arsenal’s fans sang “one-nil to the arsenal” to it.

in may 2016 a wigan fan sang “will grigg’s on fire” to it on youtube; northern ireland’s fans sang it all through euro 2016.

its riff is david whittaker’s 1984 commodore 64 game tune, “star dust” from lazy jones; north american arenas chant its “whoa-oh” after goals.

handel wrote it for george ii’s coronation in 1727; tony britten built the champions league anthem on its rising strings in 1992.

written down as “bond theme” after a soundcheck in melbourne, 2002; in 2003, club brugge’s fans say, they first sang it at a champions league match in milan.