In football, terrace tunes are those familiar songs belted out by fans in stadiums, sometimes triumphantly and sometimes defiantly before matches or in a lull of form. Often started by a single wavering voice and spreading like wind across a sea of fans, the origins of these chants can be allusive, and their relevance over time almost impossible to predict.  “Blue Moon” is one of those tunes. Began by and now synonymous with Manchester City fans, it’s a mainstay at the Etihad and rings laps around the ground during most games.

“Blue Moon” - a composition by Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart, is first thought to have been first aired by the City faithful during their game against Liverpool at Anfield during the 1989/90 campaign. During the 80s, it wasn’t uncommon for football clubs to adopt hit songs onto the terraces of football grounds, no doubt with the hopes of some sort of osmotic transmission of good spirits. However, “Blue Moon” is different from many other club tunes in that it is uncharacteristically melancholy, which stands in contrast to the ripping and roaring anthems used to inspire a team to victory.

It’s claimed that the song first played while fans were exiting the stadium, with an air of irony due to the team’s poor run of form. Since a blue moon is a rare astronomical event, wherein a full moon appears in the same calendar month twice, the song rang true to the era of frustration, when the team would only win “once in a blue moon”. The double irony of the song, now, is that Manchester City have gone on to become four-time Premier League Winners with the total inverse win-loss record as they had in the 80s.

Nevertheless, “Blue Moon” remains a prominent part of Man City’s history, and the song is still wrangled from the subconscious of Man City fans and out into the wind every game, regardless of its despairing origins.

See the full lyrics below: