Category Archives: Music

December 23, 2021

He Fell Into a Como

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Mary Beth Ellis at Redleg Nation extols the virtues of singer and team player Perry Como:

Perry Como had the same problem as the members and teammates of the Big Red Machine: He was great in an era and amongst colleagues who were otherworldly-great. Generational awesomeness held all the rarity and of wonder a peanut butter sandwich. He was a crooner in the time of Sinatra, Martin, and Crosby, and that’s all I have to say about that.

RedlegNation.com

Como produced top ten hits from the mid 1940s until the early 1970s. Como had a number one hit in the middle of the rock era with this:

Second City TV did skewer his style, however:

If I had to choose the Perry Como of baseball players, it would be Dale Murphy.

January 19, 2021 April 28, 2020 October 4, 2017 October 1, 2015 March 22, 2015

So Long Song

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Big League Stew notes that Andrew McCutchen doesn’t like the song Centerfield:

The exact question: “The song I never want to hear again in an arena/ballpark/stadium is … ”

McCutchen’s brutally honest and unapologetic response: “Put me in coach,” which is easily the most repeated and recognizable lyric in the song, but the position in question and the title of the song remains “Centerfield.”

What Big League Stew misses why McCutchen uses a line from the song rather than the song title. Others have said to me that “Put me in coach,” shows that John Fogerty doesn’t know anything about baseball. Unlike most sports that are run on the field by head coaches, baseball uses a manager. Most players call the manager, “Skip,” short for skipper. So someone who knew something about baseball would have penned, “Put me in, Skip.” It’s like Amy spoiling Raiders of the Lost Ark:

Or people complaining about hearing space ships blow up in movies. Or people who complain about Animanicas:

It’s just a bit of fun.

June 11, 2014 December 19, 2013

Great Songs on a Slow News Day

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Jim Caple presents his list of the best baseball songs. Craig Calcaterra disagrees with the choice of Centerfield as #1. I’m with Tango, I like Centerfield. (Peter Gammons didn’t like the reference to coach in the song. Managers are called skipper. I chalk this up to artistic license.)

My three colleagues, however, all left out the greatest baseball song of all time:

I don’t know how they got Phil Rizzuto to do this. As a father of three daughters, I thought he’d be a bit more conservative on the subject. 🙂

July 1, 2013 April 14, 2013

All That Jazz

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Saturday night I attended a tribute to Tom Everett, the recently retired director of the Harvard Bands. Among his accomplishments at Harvard, Tom started the Harvard Jazz Band 40 years ago, and that group blew the roof off Sanders Theater last night. The night featured two of Tom’s students on tenor saxophone. Don Braden stepped in as conductor of the band when Tom stepped down, and continued Tom’s tradition of having the group perform all genres of the discipline. Joshua Redman performed as guest soloist, and his animated style brought the house to its feet. As my wife noted, Redman makes his saxophone sound like a woodwind rather than brassy. Pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Ron Mahdi and drummer Yoron Israel joined Redman for a rendition of John Coltrane’s Wise One, the treat of the evening.

If you live in the Boston area and never saw the Harvard Jazz band, make the effort to attend a concert. In my 35 years connected with the institution, they never failed to please. That’s due to the efforts to Tom, helping talent musicians find their voice for 40 years. I wish him a happy retirement!

March 9, 2013 May 19, 2012 April 18, 2012 April 13, 2012 March 25, 2012 March 25, 2012 March 18, 2012 March 4, 2012 February 26, 2012 February 25, 2012 February 19, 2012 November 6, 2011 October 16, 2011 June 27, 2011 June 22, 2011 June 12, 2011 April 22, 2011 March 31, 2011

Opening Day Music

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I used to love to hear this song come on the radio on my way to Fenway Park for the Red Sox home opener:

Watching the video just now, I realized it’s a four minute version of Ken Burns Baseball, and thoroughly more enjoyable.

WBCN in Boston usually played this one, too.

March 22, 2011

Singing the Game

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The Greatest Game in the World presents 22 songs by the The Thrill Building, all on the subject of baseball. Their Nashville roots shine as the songs combine country and soft rock as they sing about every aspect of the game. Songs cover people in the game from the hot dog vendor (“Hog Dog Man”) to the front office (“Roland Hemond”). “I’m Just a Baseball” gives us the view of the ball as it’s pitched and hit. Even online baseball forums get a tune (“The Forum”).

The song I liked the best painted a picture of what it’s like for a batter to get the perfect pitch (“I’m Gonna Hit It”). It describes how the batter sees the ball, how he imagines it will sail out of the park, how the outfielder will be crushed that his leap will fall short. If you’ve ever seen a batter’s eyes light up when he got his pitch, you’ll get this song.

Mostly, however, the songs are a pleasant distraction. It’s a nice CD to pop into the care on a long drive. There a certain 80’s movies theme song feel to a lot of these. Then again, I can’t think of a better way to get into a baseball mood on my way to a game.