108CAM
Always Hunting For Lost Football Club Songs
- May 28, 2021
- 57
- 104
- AFL Club
- Richmond
- Other Teams
- Melbourne Stars, Draw FC, The Bye
From 1994 to 1996, the Brisbane Bears used a song called "Brisbane Bears Will Live Forever" which was sung to the tune of "Glory, Glory hallelujah"
Many people including myself have been trying to find the official recording of this song ever since it went missing in the late 90's although one source tells me a copy survived until 2001. The song's lyrics are on the Bears Wikipedia page which was written in the early 2000's. Wikipedia started in 2001 so this tells me that in order to have wrote the lyrics on the page, someone either had a really good memory or had access to a copy of the song.
I can also confirm that the 2nd Bears song was released on CD. I know this because when I emailed The Gabba about the Bears Song, they told me they didn't have a copy because the CD would be returned to the club so they could take it to the next game. I don't know how many CDs were pressed but it wouldn't've been many.
It was commonplace for stadiums to have a CD player connected to the speaker system in order to play the team songs via the existing speaker system.
I also read a YouTube comment saying the AFL destroyed the master recordings but I have no source to back it up. I don't actually think they destroyed it because an edit in the Wikipedia article states that they and the Lions still have copies but are refusing to release them. This tells me that the AFL has gained knowledge of the search and is doing everything they can to prevent the song from ever being heard again. Perhaps there's some kind of non disclosure agreement that's preventing the release of the song
So far the only recordings of the song are from a live performance in 1996 and in the background of TV broadcasts uploaded to YouTube. I'll be sure to update this post as more progress is made on the search.
Many people including myself have been trying to find the official recording of this song ever since it went missing in the late 90's although one source tells me a copy survived until 2001. The song's lyrics are on the Bears Wikipedia page which was written in the early 2000's. Wikipedia started in 2001 so this tells me that in order to have wrote the lyrics on the page, someone either had a really good memory or had access to a copy of the song.
I can also confirm that the 2nd Bears song was released on CD. I know this because when I emailed The Gabba about the Bears Song, they told me they didn't have a copy because the CD would be returned to the club so they could take it to the next game. I don't know how many CDs were pressed but it wouldn't've been many.
It was commonplace for stadiums to have a CD player connected to the speaker system in order to play the team songs via the existing speaker system.
I also read a YouTube comment saying the AFL destroyed the master recordings but I have no source to back it up. I don't actually think they destroyed it because an edit in the Wikipedia article states that they and the Lions still have copies but are refusing to release them. This tells me that the AFL has gained knowledge of the search and is doing everything they can to prevent the song from ever being heard again. Perhaps there's some kind of non disclosure agreement that's preventing the release of the song
So far the only recordings of the song are from a live performance in 1996 and in the background of TV broadcasts uploaded to YouTube. I'll be sure to update this post as more progress is made on the search.
