Birmingham City Songs and Famous Chants: From Keep Right On to Forever True

Football fans use songs and chants for numerous different reasons, from offering support to the team that they follow through to telling stories about the club’s past. In that sense, Birmingham City supporters are no different to any other set of fans up and down the country. Some of the songs are unique to the Blues, whilst others are the same kind of generic songs that you can hear sung by other supporters, with certain words changed to represent a link back to Birmingham City and St Andrew’s. That isn’t particular to the Blues either, with all fans stealing songs first sung elsewhere.

Regardless of whether you’re a long-term fan of Birmingham City or you’ve only really started to follow the club in recent years, it is always helpful to get a sense of the kinds of songs and chants that the supporters are liable to belt out when trying to give their team a lift. It isn’t exactly outrageous to suggest that some people might have started to watch the club’s matches after American football player Tom Brady came on board as a minority owner, with those coming from the outside in likely to feel as though understanding what the passionate fans are singing about is all but impossible.

Given the manner in which the wit of football supporters is often employed to come up with songs and chants that react to what is happening in real time, it is more than possible that you will hear something that we haven’t been able to list here. That is to be expected and we would never claim that this list is exhaustive. Instead, it is just to give you a taste and flavour of what Birmingham City fans might sing and chant during matches.

Keep Right On

If there is one song that you will hear on a regular basis when watching Birmingham City matches, regardless of whether that’s in person or on the television, it is Keep Right On. It is a song that tells something of the story of the football club’s history, as well as what it is like to be a football fan in general. It doesn’t shy away from the heartbreak of following a team, pointing out that to do so will see you endure both good times and bad. It is a song that is all about acknowledging that being a football supporter is as much about the journey as it is the destination.

Whilst all of that is true, it is also fair to point out that it’s just a good song that creates a decent atmosphere. St Andrew’s has seen its fair share of moments of triumph and of disappointment, with Birmingham City fans having gone through the wringer emotionally over the years. If you have heard it come from the terraces in the past but weren’t sure what it was that the fans were actually singing, this will help you out:

As you go through life,

It’s a long, long road.

There’ll be joys and sorrows too.

As we journey on,

We will sing this song,

For the boys in royal blue.

We’re often partizan,

(Clap x3)

We will journey on,

(Clap x3)

Keep right on to the end of the road,

Keep right on to the end.

Though the way be long,

Let your heart beat strong,

Keep right on to the end.

Though you’re tired and weary,

Still journey on,

‘Til you come to your happy abode,

Where all the love,

you’ve been dreaming of,

Will be there.

Where?

At the end of the road.

Birmingham! Birmingham!

16 Years

There are numerous different teams based in and around the Midlands, including the likes of Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Bromwich Albion. Whilst Birmingham City fans obviously don’t like any of them, there is little question that the biggest rivalry is with Aston Villa. The two teams are based in the heart of the city of Birmingham, so it is little wonder that the Blues find their backs are up when there is any mention of their city rivals. As a result, there is a song celebrating the lack of success that Aston Villa have enjoyed, with the exact lyrics changing depending on the passage of time.

If you have young ones in your life that you’d like to protect from the use of swear words, then this probably isn’t one that you’ll be wanting to teach them in a hurry, but it is one that directly mocks Aston Villa, which most supporters are always likely to get on board with:

16 years and won f*ck all,

Villa, Villa,

16 years and won f*ck all,

Villa, Villa!

We are the boys in blue and white;

We loved to sing, we love to fight,

Birmingham City,

Midlands number one!

BOUNCE!

La la la la la…..

On the Tilton

Whilst Aston Villa are unquestionably the main rivals of Birmingham City, the other Midlands clubs are just as liable to get it in the neck from supporters of the mood takes. That is where On the Hilton comes in, sung to the tune of I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers. Here is how the Blues’ version goes:

Oh the Tilton,

That’s the place I wanna be always be,

And I can guarantee I’ll be singing next to you.

Oh the Holte End,

That’s the place I’ll never be,

Just like the Hawthorns and the shitty Molineux.

Oh the Tilton,

That’s the place I want to always be,

And I can guarantee I’ll be singing next to you.

Oh the Holte End,

That’s the place I’ll never be,

Just like the Hawthorns and the sh*tty Molineux.

And I would walk 500 miles,

And I would walk 500 more,

Just to see the mighty Blues away,

See Blues away win, lose or draw,

Dadadada (dadadada)….

I Am a City Fan

As if to prove the point about the fact that Birmingham City fans aren’t quick to move on from their rivalries, one of the chants that supporters will often engage in is I Am a City fan, which is about supporting the club on the surface, but takes a dig at other Midlands clubs in the lyrics. It goes like this:

I am a City fan

And I am from Birmingham.

I know what I want,

And I know how to get it:

I wanna destroy Villa and Wolves ‘cos

I Wanna be

A city fan.

All Bounce

Mainly, though, it is Aston Villa that will forever and always suffer the ire of Birmingham City supporters, as shown by the manner in which the fans relish in the idea of bouncing whilst declaring their hatred for the Villans, chanting the following:

All bounce if you hate Villa!

(Repeat)

Forever True

Ok, it would be a slight misrepresentation to suggest that this is something that you’ll hear cascading down the terraces on a regular basis. Yet it was also impossible to leave it out, given the fact that a well-known pop group rewrote one of their own songs specifically to demonstrate their support of the Blues. Then there is the fact that Food For Thought, the song to which the new lyrics have been written by members of UB40, features an iconic sax solo that is chanted by Birmingham City supporters every time a goal is scored, so the idea of that having its own specific words is fitting.

Here are the lyrics to the song created for Birmingham City by one of the most famous bands to emerge from the Midlands:

Though the journey is long,

Our hearts are still strong.

We keep right on,

Forever true

To the royal blue.

In alliance, we began;

Defiance our plan.

We are Birmingham

And we’re forever true

To the royal blue.

Keep right on, forever true.

Keep right on, forever true

To the royal blue.

With all of our might,

Keep up the good fight,

Victory’s in sight,

‘Cause we’re forever true

To the royal blue.

So strike up the band,

We come from all lands.

United we stand

‘Cause we’re forever true

To the royal blue.

Keep right on, forever true

To the royal blue.

Keep right on, forever true

To the royal blue.

Keep right on, forever true

To the royal blue.

Keep right on, forever true

To the royal blue.

Keep right on, forever true

To the royal blue.