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Why do West Ham blow bubbles before every match and what are the lyrics to famous anthem?

West Ham haven't had much to celebrate ahead of the new Premier League season.

The Hammers were on cloud nine after winning the Europa Conference League in June - their first piece of European silverware since 1965.

But the club have since sold captain Declan Rice to London rivals Arsenal and are currently the only Premier League side yet to make a senior signing.

However, Irons fans are still among the most loyal and passionate and will undoubtedly continue to cheer on their team this year.

Part of that support will see spectators sign loud and proud about blowing pretty bubbles but why? talkSPORT.com takes a look.

Why do West Ham fans sing ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’?

The club's association with the famous chant dates back almost a century, with the song originally composed for the 1918 Broadway musical ‘The Passing Show’.

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It was written by John Kellette and Jaan Kenbrovin, a collective pseudonym for James Kendis, James Brockman and Nat Vincent.

Several years later it became an anthem for West Ham across the Atlantic via former manager Charlie Paynter in the late 1920s.

Paynter was close friends with the headmaster of Park School, Cornelius Beal, which was near Upton Park.

At the time, schoolboy football was massive and Park School had a player called Billy J. Murray - who was nicknamed ‘Bubbles’.

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Murray had coined the moniker due to his similarity to to a figure in John Everett Millais’ painting ‘Bubbles’, which was being used in a Pears soap advert at the time.

His headmaster Beal began belting the tune "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" but adapted the lyrics when his school players played well.

Murray went onto to join West Ham's youth team, with many of his teammates even reaching the first team.

And ‘Bubbles’ became linked to the group of young Hammers stars, with fans adopting the popular music hall tune as well.

But how does the song go? Well, the lyrics are:

I'm forever blowing bubbles,

Pretty bubbles in the air,

They fly so high,

They reach the sky,

And like my dreams they fade and die!

Fortunes always hiding,

I've looked every where,

I'm forever blowing bubbles,

Pretty bubbles in the air!

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