Few football teams can boast an original song as their anthem; fewer still can boast a song originally recorded by the team’s players; and I’m pretty sure only one team can boast an anthem written by the guy who wrote “It’s Not Unusual” for Tom Jones. That team is Leeds.

Marching on Together was released to commemorate Leeds’s 1972 FA Cup Final win over Arsenal. It was on the b-side of the album, accompanied on the a-side by a song simply called Leeds United. The latter is great fun, but it’s too specific to the 1970s squad to be popular nowadays (for lyrics, click here). Marching on Together is a different beast entirely. Fans usually only sing the chorus during a game, as the rest of the song is less widely known (and thus harder to get 20,000 people singing at once!). The original recording was performed by the actual players from the 1972 FA Cup Final, but sounds remarkably good considering none of them were singers.

The first video below is from the celebrations in Leeds after the team won the league title in 1992. There are better quality clips of Marching on Together out there, but none with such passion – there’s a man at 01:22 who looks on the verge of tears. The chorus, at 00:22, always brings back memories. God I miss going to Elland Road – I’ll probably end up blowing all my disposable income on match tickets when I move back to Yorkshire later this year, which can’t be good.

I thought I’d post this next one too, despite the bizarre picture slideshow, since it’s the original recording, as sung by the Leeds squad from the 1972 FA Cup Final. It doesn’t have the same goosebump-inducing quality as the other, but it’s the original and it’s great.

And now the lyrics, in full:

Here we go with Leeds United
We’re gonna give the boys a hand
Stand up and sing for Leeds United
They are the greatest in the land

Every day, we’re all gonna say
We love you Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!
Everywhere, we’re gonna be there
We love you Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!

Marching on together
We’re gonna see you win (na na na na na na)
We are so proud
We shout it out loud
We love you Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!

We’ve been through it all together
And we’ve had our ups and downs (ups and downs!)
We’re gonna stay with you forever
At least until the world stops going ’round

Every day, we’re all gonna say
We love you Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!
Everywhere, we’re gonna be there
We love you Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!

Marching on together
We’re gonna see you win (na na na na na na)
We are so proud
We shout it out loud
We love you Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!