Sports Song

[Grom]

I'm with everyone else: the lack of obvious jokes in this video really hurt it. It's quite a big let down after the 4 really great ones that came before Sports Song. What really struck me was that it's essentially just people performing the song. Even The Saga Begins had some good visual jokes that helped break up the "this is the band miming the song" aspect that this one had.

[weird user]

I would have thought this one either wouldn't get a music video or it would have been animated. So I am surprised that it's live action.

When listening to it, I felt like it was a football song, even though they never specify the sport in the song. The vagueness of the song is why I am surprised they made a music video for it.

[TMBJon]

Steve and Bermuda are definitely in the video, immediately surrounding Al. As far as I can tell the other band members are not in the video.

[tankgirl73]

I love, love, love this song. I direct a marching band -- not a US-college-football kind of band that does all the crazy formations. Just a community band that marches in parades -- more like a military-style band.

So, I know marches. Sousa, Alford, King. Love the stuff.

What Al does here so well is not merely the "sports school cheer song", but traditional march tunes in general. The phrasings, the harmonies, the rise and fall of the melodies, the sections/structure. It's a really convincing Sousa!

And yes, it bears similarities to Monty Python.

The "we're great and you suck" goes on too long -- and that's perfect. It's such a simplistic, dopey, meaningless phrase. That's the best the fans can come up with... why do we cheer for our team and deride yours? Well, uh, well, we're great, and, well, uh, you're not. Repeat it over and over again, to emphasize the childishness of it. I could also argue that the repetition of the lyric at that point is not the point, it's the melody. That's a really well-done melody there, and having a repeating lyric over the top of it is completely typical.

I really, really, really want them to release the music for this scored for band (ie, putting the vocals into the band instruments) so that my band can play it.

All that being said, I agree that the video was.... fine. But underwhelming.

[TMBJon]

Thanks for that insight, tankgirl! Could you post any links to Sousa (or other) marching tunes that you think Sports Song might be especially influenced by?

Also, !!!

[minnick27]

Somebody has already mashed it with the Wells Fargo Center goal horn.
http://m.soundcloud.com/golson92/weird- ... 2708966678#_=_" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also, GO FLYERS!!

[Waffle King]

Originally,I thought it was kinda weak,since the final half pretty much solely consists of "We're great,you suck!",but I get what Al was going for and I've warmed up to it much more on repeated listening.

[angela27]

Somebody has already mashed it with the Wells Fargo Center goal horn.
http://m.soundcloud.com/golson92/weird- ... 2708966678#_=_" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also, GO FLYERS!!

I'm originally from Philly, I think this is going to be really popular there.

[albinodwarf27]

As most of you know, when looking at them from our perspective, Bermuda is to the left of Al and Steve to the right. The tall guy between them (directly behind Al) is Steve's son Ian. Ruben and Jim are not in the video.

I love this one. All of my kids were in marching band, it brings back some fun memories!

[tankgirl73]

Thanks for that insight, tankgirl! Could you post any links to Sousa (or other) marching tunes that you think Sports Song might be especially influenced by?

Also, !!!

Thanks for the welcome! I'm fairly sure I used to hang out here years and years ago, but it's been ages and ages.

Anyway, basically any typical 6/8 march (as opposed to 2/4 or 2/2 marches) will have lots of similarities, but probably the most similar ones would be--

Semper Fi: http://youtu.be/qgABUZ4i9co" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Washington Post: http://youtu.be/Mxrh1CrMmTY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Liberty Bell: http://youtu.be/x7FD9PNpfpo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Of course the Liberty Bell is what's used as the Monty Python theme song, so that's part of where many folks are getting the Monty Python vibe from Sports Song.

Anyway, just try singing "we're great and you suck" over any of these and you'll see how well it fits heh.