Catchy and emotional though songs such as "Dirty Water" and "Sweet Caroline" are (with their respective, hooky choruses), they are neither baseball-related, nor team-specific.
The lyrics of that old WHDH-TV Red Sox jingle I recall are: "It's time to meet up with the Boston Red Sox/Boston-born and Boston-bred Sox/Relax, relax, relax, relax/And be a Sox watcher!"
Another good example of a song with elements necessary in a good baseball team anthem is Boston radio legend Jess Cain's rendering of "Carl Yastrzemski (The Yaz Song)," inspired by the classical "Hallelujah" chorale from Handel's "Messiah.".
I recall an old WHDH-TV (when those call letters belonged to Boston's Channel 5, originally owned & operated by the old Boston Herald Travler Corp., before losing its license in 1972 to become WCVB, now a Hearst-Argyle station) jingle promoting the station's Red Sox coverage. Some of that song's lyrics would be a better example of necessary qualities in a good baseball team anthem or fight song.
"Tessie," by The Dropkick Murphys, is a mess of a song, too many indecipherable lyrics, and an archaic link to Red Sox heritage. As such, it may as well be about The Boston Pilgrims team.
We may dismiss that Red Sox rap number, which is not a song by its very nature, lacking a consistent melody.
So there is still a need for a simple, catchy, rousing Red Sox anthem/fight song! So far, nothing close to being good enough to be called "official."
"Sweet Caroline," by Neil Diamond (who was probably raised a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, given that's from where he originally hailed), is a song alegedly inspired by the young and fatherless Caroline Kennedy, written after President John F. Kennedy's death.
Again, nothing to do with baseball or the Red Sox, and bearing a slight Boston connection only because of its lyrical link to JFK's daughter.
"Dirty Water" is by The Standells, a gargae rock band from Los Angeles, and the song's lyrics have nothing to do with baseball, let alone the Red Sox. Great song that it is, it actually stresses the seedier side of after-dark Boston nightlife.
The main member of the Standells, Larry Tamblyn, is the brother of Russ Tamblyn, who co-starred in the film version of "West Side Story," which combined elements of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" against the backdrop of New York City youth gang wars.
@gymnastix This song is also too wimpy to be a sports team anthem/fight song, its singer's "sensitive" voice sounding like he belongs in a socialist summer camp singing "Kumbaya" and other lefty folk songs.
Would that he took his inspiration from a more rousing union song (commie-inspired though they are), at least he'd be on the "right" side of the "left" track for writing a baseball team anthem/fight song.
Catchy and emotional though songs such as "Dirty Water" and "Sweet Caroline" are (with their respective, hooky choruses), they are neither baseball-related, nor team-specific.
gymnastix 7 months ago
The lyrics of that old WHDH-TV Red Sox jingle I recall are: "It's time to meet up with the Boston Red Sox/Boston-born and Boston-bred Sox/Relax, relax, relax, relax/And be a Sox watcher!"
Another good example of a song with elements necessary in a good baseball team anthem is Boston radio legend Jess Cain's rendering of "Carl Yastrzemski (The Yaz Song)," inspired by the classical "Hallelujah" chorale from Handel's "Messiah.".
gymnastix 7 months ago
I recall an old WHDH-TV (when those call letters belonged to Boston's Channel 5, originally owned & operated by the old Boston Herald Travler Corp., before losing its license in 1972 to become WCVB, now a Hearst-Argyle station) jingle promoting the station's Red Sox coverage. Some of that song's lyrics would be a better example of necessary qualities in a good baseball team anthem or fight song.
gymnastix 7 months ago
"Tessie," by The Dropkick Murphys, is a mess of a song, too many indecipherable lyrics, and an archaic link to Red Sox heritage. As such, it may as well be about The Boston Pilgrims team.
We may dismiss that Red Sox rap number, which is not a song by its very nature, lacking a consistent melody.
So there is still a need for a simple, catchy, rousing Red Sox anthem/fight song! So far, nothing close to being good enough to be called "official."
gymnastix 7 months ago
"Sweet Caroline," by Neil Diamond (who was probably raised a Brooklyn Dodgers fan, given that's from where he originally hailed), is a song alegedly inspired by the young and fatherless Caroline Kennedy, written after President John F. Kennedy's death.
Again, nothing to do with baseball or the Red Sox, and bearing a slight Boston connection only because of its lyrical link to JFK's daughter.
gymnastix 7 months ago
"Dirty Water" is by The Standells, a gargae rock band from Los Angeles, and the song's lyrics have nothing to do with baseball, let alone the Red Sox. Great song that it is, it actually stresses the seedier side of after-dark Boston nightlife.
The main member of the Standells, Larry Tamblyn, is the brother of Russ Tamblyn, who co-starred in the film version of "West Side Story," which combined elements of Shakespeare's "Romeo & Juliet" against the backdrop of New York City youth gang wars.
gymnastix 7 months ago
@gymnastix Excuse me, that second clause of the first paragraph should have read "a garage band from Los Angeles."
gymnastix 7 months ago
This song is too long, too many lyrics to remember, which is why it will never work as a genuine Red Sox theme song.
An example of the perfect baseball team theme song is "Meet The Mets"--simple, easy-to-remember-lyrics and, most of all, brief.
gymnastix 7 months ago
@gymnastix This song is also too wimpy to be a sports team anthem/fight song, its singer's "sensitive" voice sounding like he belongs in a socialist summer camp singing "Kumbaya" and other lefty folk songs.
Would that he took his inspiration from a more rousing union song (commie-inspired though they are), at least he'd be on the "right" side of the "left" track for writing a baseball team anthem/fight song.
gymnastix 7 months ago