Tag: Super Bowl Songs

Football Song: “At My Weakest Moment”

Seahawks helmet We hope everyone has a safe Super Bowl Sunday. There are not a lot of songs about football, but Chimesfreedom favorite Marty Brown wrote a love song that begins with a football story. The song, “At My Weakest Moment,” was inspired by Tony Romo’s fumble in the Wild Card playoff game against Seattle in 2006.

With the Dallas Cowboys trailing the Seahawks 21-20 with 1:19 left in the game, Dallas kicker Martin Gramatica prepared for an easy 19-yard field goal to win the game. Romo received the snap to hold the ball for the kicker, but he fumbled the ball on the snap. Romo then tried to run the ball into the end zone but he was tackled. The Seahawks won the game.

Singer-songwriter Marty Brown is a Cowboys fan, even though he hails from Kentucky. He was despondent after the Dallas loss, and he used that heartbreak as inspiration to connect to another kind of heartbreak in his song “At My Weakest Moment,” which appears on his independently released CD All-American Cowboy. Brown imagined himself in Tony Romo’s place, wondering if his lover would still be there for him at his weakest moment.

Apparently, Brown did not want to directly memorialize a low moment for his team (or perhaps he needed a one-syllable name in the lyrics). He changed the team in his song from his Cowboys to the Colts. Check it out.

Marty Brown, “At My Weakest Moment”

Of course, everyone has their ups and downs. The heartbreaks do not last forever, and neither do the celebrations. After Seattle beat the Cowboys in the 2006 playoffs, they found their own disappointment in the next round of the playoffs, when they lost on an overtime field goal to the Chicago Bears. Overcoming that “weakest moment,” in 2014 they made it to the Super Bowl and won.

What is your favorite football song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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  • Purple Rain: Prince at 2007 Super Bowl
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  • Super Bowl Songs: I Am a Patriot
  • Football Songs: Tim Tebow’s St. Elmo’s Fire

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    Super Bowl Songs: “Save Me, San Francisco”

    San Francisco 49ers Fleece It was not that long ago when for our World Series songs we featured “San Francisco Bay Blues.” Now, we find ourselves again having to come up with a song for a San Francisco team. With the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl this year, we feature a song with a title that fans in the city by the Bay will be screaming come Sunday. “Save Me, San Francisco” is the title track off of the 2009 Train album that also featured their huge hit “Hey, Soul Sister,” thus setting the record for songs on an album with unnecessary commas.

    I have a love-hate relationship with Train. Some of their songs get overplayed on the radio, so I end up with them stuck in my head. But I cannot deny they can produce some excellent pop songs with great hooks. And lead singer Pat Monahan — who co-wrote the catchy “Save Me, San Francisco” — has a great voice.

    The video for “Save Me, San Francisco” is a play on the Dustin Hoffman classic movie, The Graduate (1967). But in the Train video, when the man chasing his beloved gets to the alter, he finds a twist ending that plays on a political issue that has been in the news in California and elsewhere. And in case you were wondering, the members of Train have been outspoken in support of the type of marriage that occurs at the end of the video.

    You can check out the ending to The Graduate on YouTube. Or check out the funny Wayne’s World 2 (1993) spoof on the same race-to-the-church segment. But this Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers hope they will not be left standing at the alter of victory.

    What is your favorite song about San Francisco or your favorite nod to “The Graduate” ending? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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  • Football Song: “At My Weakest Moment”

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    Edgar Allan Poe Put to Music: “The Raven” (Alan Parsons Project)

    Baltimore Ravens Fleece In coming up for a song in honor of the Baltimore Ravens, my first thought was Gram Parson’s “The Streets of Baltimore.” But Chimesfreedom has already covered that song, so I had to think back to another Parsons and a song I had not heard for many years, “The Raven” by The Alan Parsons Project.

    “The Raven” first appeared on Tales of Mystery and Imagination: Edgar Allan Poe, the 1976 debut album by The Alan Parsons Project, perhaps best known for their 1982 progressive rock song “Eye in the Sky.” Tales is a compilation of songs inspired by the writer Edgar Allan Poe. The album title was inspired by a 1908 collection of Poe’s stories, Tales of Mystery & Imagination. I was first introduced to the album when I was in college when Dave — one of my roommates who introduced me to a lot of new music at the time — noted my interest in literature and led me to this literary inspired album.

    The song “The Raven” comes from Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poem “The Raven.” In the 1845 poem, the raven taunts a broken-hearted lover by repeating the line “never-more.” Scholars debate whether or not there was a real “Lenore” in Poe’s life, whether she represented his ailing wife, or whether she represented a lost love.

    The above video also features the lyrics. The unusual vocal sound for the song was made with the use of a digital vocoder.

    The Baltimore Ravens also have several Poe connections. The football team’s name, like The Alan Parsons Project Song, also was inspired by the poem “The Raven.” A fan poll through the Baltimore Sun selected the new name for the former Cleveland Browns because Edgar Allan Poe is one of the favorite sons of Baltimore (although this Salon article argues that the city and the football team have neglected Poe’s legacy and his home). The team’s raven mascot’s name is “Poe” too, and there used to be similar mascots named “Edgar” and “Allan” too before they were retired in 2008.

    If you like Baltimore’s clever choice of mascot, consider that when Edgar Allan Poe began writing “The Raven,” he considered making the bird an owl.  That could have meant today that the Baltimore Owls could have been playing football.

    If the Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl, Ray Lewis and the other players will join Poe as Baltimore’s favorite sons. But if the Ravens lose, well, “Quoth the [Baltimore] raven, `Nevermore.'” Well, at least until next season.

    {Watch for an upcoming post on my favorite song from Tales of Mystery and Imagination: Edgar Allan Poe.}

    What is your favorite Baltimore or Ravens song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

  • Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” in Music
  • Super Bowl Songs: I Am a Patriot
  • Super Bowl Songs: Bon Iver & “Wisconsin”
  • Super Bowl Songs: Pete Seeger & “Pittsburgh Town”
  • Purple Rain: Prince at 2007 Super Bowl
  • “Don’t Leave” In that Chevy Super Bowl Commercial

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    Super Bowl Songs: The Only Living Boy in New York

    NY Giants Tailgater Football Now that we have already discussed this year’s Super Bowl movies and a song for the New England Patriots, it is time to pick a song for the New York Giants. A New York team gives us several options of the many “New York” songs. After I discovered there was not a good video of John Coltraine playing “Giant Steps,” I was leaning toward one of my favorite Bruce Springsteen songs, but then I remembered the beautiful Simon & Garfunkel song, “The Only Living Boy in New York.” Considering that the Giants play their home games in New Jersey, the song also has a connection to that state, having been featured in the movie Garden State (2004), which is set in the “Garden State” of New Jersey.

    Although the song may work for the listener in many contexts, such as in that movie, much of the perfection of the song comes from the fact that it had personal meaning for Paul Simon:

    “Tom, get your plane right on time;
    I know your part will go fine;
    Fly down to Mexico.”

    Simon and Garfunkel started out in 1957 performing under the name “Tom & Jerry,” so one may see from the opening line that the song is a message to Tom, i.e., Art Garfunkel. In an interview, Simon explained, “That was written about Artie’s going off to make Catch 22 in Mexico.” At the time, Garfunkel had left Simon in New York to act in the movie Catch 22 (1970). One hears Simon’s melancholy at being left behind by his friend and singing partner in the chords of the song.

    The song appeared on Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970), the last studio album from the team, and one hears the dissolution of the collaboration and the sadness of a deteriorating friendship that had started in high school. In the original, one hears the sadness in both voices, and you still hear it in Simon’s voice looking back as an older man.

    As for this weekend, New York Giant fans hope they will not have sadness in their voices after Sunday’s game.

    Post-Super Bowl Update: After the Giants won the game, the song played in the stadium was “Empire State of Mind” by Alicia Keys and Jay-Z. Another good song choice.

    What do you think of “The Only Living Boy in New York”? What “New York” song would you pick for this year’s Super Bowl? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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  • Allison Russell’s “Nightflyer” (Song of the Day)

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    Super Bowl Songs: I Am a Patriot

    It is time once again for Chimesfreedom to take a look at songs related to each Super Bowl team. With this year’s battle between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants, we first consider the Patriots, using a song incorporating the New England mascot instead of going with Barry Manilow’s “Weekend in New England.”

    Back in the 1980s before there was the Internet where you can find a large amount of music and concert footage of your favorite artist, I was desperate for anything related to Bruce Springsteen for the long years between albums. In one of those periods, I discovered the music of Little Steven and “I Am a Patriot.”

    Little Steven, of course, is “Miami Steve” and Silvio Dante and Steven Van Zandt, a guitarist and singer in Springsteen’s E Street Band. While Springsteen’s songs gradually included more political allusions, Little Steven wore his social issues on his sleeve. “I Am a Patriot,” though, he reclaims the word “patriot” from the politicians and asserts its meaning as an advocate for freedom.

    And I ain’t no communist, and I ain’t no capitalist;
    And I ain’t no socialist;
    and I sure ain’t no imperialist;
    And I ain’t no Democrat;
    And I ain’t no Republican either;
    And I only know one party,
    And its name is freedom;
    I am a patriot.

    Little Steven recorded several very good albums on his own during the 1980s, including Men Without Women (1982), Voice of America (1984), Freedom No Compromise (1987) and Revolution (1989). He added one last album in the 1990s with Born Again Savage (1999), which was not as successful as his previous albums. “I Am a Patriot” is off of Voice of America, and the song has been covered by Jackson Browne and Eddie Vedder, among others. Browne also has performed the song with Little Steven.

    As for this weekend, at the end of the day on Sunday, New Englanders are hoping they can proudly assert the refrain of the song. Meanwhile, check out the Super Bowl song for the New York Giants.

    Are you a fan of Little Steven? What other songs are appropriate for the New England Patriots? Leave your two cents in the comments.

    Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts:

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  • Super Bowl Songs: Bon Iver & “Wisconsin”
  • Little Steven and Bruce Springsteen: “It’s Been a Long Time”
  • Little Steven is Releasing “Soulfire”
  • Purple Rain: Prince at 2007 Super Bowl
  • Springsteen and Vedder Sing “Bobby Jean”