A strange fact about me is that I do not care for sports at all, but I love sports movies, even television dramas (Friday Night Lights, anyone?). The same can be said for songs about sports.
What are some of your favorite sports related songs?
In my case, I seem to gravitate toward baseball songs, but feel free to widen the scope to any sport.
1. Peter Cooper, “715 (For Hank Aaron)”
2. Billy Brag and Wilco, “Joe Dimaggio Done It Again”
3. Alabama, “The Cheap Seats”
4. Kenny Rogers, “The Greatest”
5. Todd Snider, “America’s Favorite Pastime”
Two, off the top of my head:
1. Lionel Cartwright, “I Heard It All (On My Radio)”
2. Kenny Chesney, “The Boys of Fall”
I forgot all about that Cartwright song. I sort of remember it now that you mention it though. I’ll have to refresh my memory.
I love baseball even though I wasn’t very good at it. I’m watching the Yankees play the Texas Rangers as I comment here.
Don Schlitz wrote “The Greatest” and co-wrote “I Heard It All On My Radio” with Lionel Cartwright. Don generally sings both of these songs at his Bluebird cafe shows.
my five sports songs:
1. “Centerfield” recorded and written by John Fogerty
2. “The Greatest” – Kenny Rogers
3. “The Show” – Jon Vezner (written by Vezner and Don Henry)
4. “The Cheap Seats – Alabama (Marcus Hummon & Randy Sharp)
5. “Mad Ruth/The Babe – recorded and written by Danny O’Keefe
a few bonus tracks:
6. “Talkin’ Baseball” – Terry Cashman. A series of songs. The first in 1981 was originally called “Willie, Mickey and the Duke”. Cashman wrote other versions of the song for other teams – Mets, Tigers, Cardinals, etc.
7. “Angels of Fenway” – recorded and written by James Taylor from his new album “Before This World”.
Kenny Chesney – “The Boys of Fall”
Whiskey Falls – “Load Up The Bases”
Gord Bamford – “Baseball Glove”
The Baseball Project – “Ted F-ing Williams”
The Baseball Project – “The Day Dock Went Hunting Heads”
Any songs I would have listed have already been mentioned, so I’ll add one that’s kind of stretch.
“The Race Is On” by George Jones. Yeah, the sport is just being used as a metaphor, but still a fine song.
I also have to mention Andy Griffith’s famous skit “What It Was, Was Football.” It’s not a song, but it’s good fun and country as hell.
The Gibson Brothers- “Iron and Diamonds”
Sam Bush- “The Wizard of Oz”
Doc & Merle Watson- “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”
Steve Goodman- “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request”
Steve Earle- “Some Dreams”
Honorable Mention
David Olney- “Heaven’s Game”
Chuck Brodsky- “Moe Berg”
Bob Dylan- “Catfish”
1. 21 to 17 -Doug Supernaw
2. The Ball -James Otto
3. Nineteen -Billy Ray Cyrus/Taylor Hicks
And if we’re including sports metaphor songs:
4. The Baseball Song -Corey Smith
5. Swing -Trace Adkins
I knew about Dylan’s Catfish song from baseball-almanac.com (click on “left field” and then “poems & songs”). Has anyone besides Dylan recorded the catfish song? Listening to Dylan is not a pleasant experience.
“Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio” – Les Brown and his Band of Reknown
Folks, mine here fall so far outside the country music spectrum that you probably shouldn’t even take this list seriously (LOL), and three of them are instrumentals, but here goes:
1. CHARIOTS OF FIRE–Vangelis (title music for the 1981 film about British athletes competing in the 1924 Summer Olympics)
2. GIVE IT ALL YOU’VE GOT–Chuck Mangione (written for the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, N.Y.–where the “Miracle On Ice” occurred)
3. GONNA FLY NOW (THEME FROM “ROCKY”)–Bill Conti (boxing)
4. DRAG CITY–Jan and Dean (drag racing)
5. RUN FOR THE ROSES–Dan Fogelberg (the Kentucky Derby)
Here’s another good non-country one: “Big League” by Tom Cochrane & Red Rider.
Here’s one I’d forgotten about
“Nolan Ryan (He’s A Hero To Us All)” – Jerry Jeff Walker
1. Cheap Seats–Alabama
2. One of the few times I’ll ever go outside country music: “Centerfield”–John Fogarty
3. 21-17–Doug Supernaw
4. The Boys of Fall–Kenny Chesney
5. The Greatest–Kenny Chesney
Honorable mention, becasue I’m not sure where you’d call it a sport or not:
“Skip A rope”–henson Cargill
*not sure IF