Why does West Ham’s musical heritage celebrate blowing bubbles?

It’s one of the most long-standing and recognizable anthems on the football terraces, but exactly why do West Ham’s famously song-loving fans sing about bubbles as the club’s signature tune?

The musical heritage story behind this mystery is complex! It begins in New York in 1918 when the original song appeared in the Broadway musical ‘The Passing Show’. It was a hit and travelled across the Atlantic where it was picked up by major singers and bands in the UK playing their own renditions. From there it made its way to the music halls, including London’s liveliest ones in the East End.

By the early 1920s the popular tune was everywhere, including on the football fields of West Ham’s schools, where a player with the nickname ‘Bubbles’ inspired Park School’s headmaster – and friend of West Ham manager Charlie Paynter – Cornelius Beale to sing the song whenever the team won.

Several of schoolboy William ‘Bubbles’ Murray’s teammates, including legends Syd Puddefoot and Jim Barrett, made it into West Ham’s first team, and so the song floated over to the old Boleyn ground, where the Iron’s fans would add in the name of the game’s star player on match days and the tradition stuck for the next hundred years and counting!

The track has even found fame in the charts, with two different versions making into the Top 40 over the decades – once in 1975 when the FA Cup Final squad version made it to number 31 in the UK Singles Chart, followed by an entry at number 35 in the charts with a version by the Cockney Rejects to celebrate the 1980 FA Cup Final.

In June 2023, Newham Heritage Month alumnae Newham Superchoir appeared on BBC News singing the anthem, in the exciting run up to the Europa Conference League final. See Newham Superchoir’s profile on our website. https://www.newhamheritagemonth.org/contributors/newham-superchoir/

We’ll share two more fantastic Newham heritage facts to end this voyage of musical discovery:

• Inspired by their team song, in May 1999, 23,680 hammers fans at Upton Park blew bubbles for a minute, in the process setting a new World Record!
• During Newham’s electrifying moment at the centre of the London 2012 Olympics, ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’ was played in the Olympic Park at Stratford as part of the soundtrack to the Opening Ceremony. Read more about Newham’s London 2012 heritage on our website.

This is just one fascinating facet of Newham’s extraordinary arts and cultural heritage. Check out many more amazing stories on this year’s festival programme, where there’s more than 50 free events and activities available throughout June, all created by the community. https://www.newhamheritagemonth.org/events/?view=grid