Tag: Chris Gaffney

CB mentioned a song on this list and this list came to life…so thanks CB. Some songs about sports or sports figures. I managed to get in baseball, boxing, and even Cricket. I can see a part II in the future.

The songs I know the most about are Baseball theme songs because that is the sport I follow the most.

John Fogerty – Centerfield

Along with “Talkin’ Baseball” and “Take Me Out To The Ballgame,” this quickly became one of the most popular baseball songs ever. It’s a fixture at ballparks between innings of games and plays at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

Fogerty mentions 3 huge baseball stars…”So say, Hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio.” He was influenced by Chuck Berry’s Brown Eyed Handsome Man with the lyrics  “Rounding third he was heading for home, it was a brown eyed handsome man,” which is lifted from Berry’s song “Brown Eyed Handsome Man.”

John Fogerty: “I’d hear about Ruth and DiMaggio, and as my dad and older brothers talked about the Babe’s exploits, their eyes would get so big. When I was a little kid, there were no teams on the West Coast, so the idea of a Major League team was really mythical to me. The players were heroes to me as long as I can remember.”

Paul Kelly – Bradman

I’ll be the first to admit I  know little nothing about Cricket but the song is great. It’s about Sir Donald Bradman, arguably…. the greatest ever cricketer (and definitely the greatest ever Australian cricketer). This one peaked at #51 in Australia in 1987 and was part of a double A-sided single along with the song Leaps and Bounds.

Chris Gaffney – Eyes of Roberto Duran

This song was written by Tim Russell and it’s covered here by Chris Gaffney. Gaffney had a terrific voice and I discovered him when I covered The Hacienda Brothers last week. This song was on the 1995 album Loser’s Paradise. 

Roberto Durán, a Panamanian boxer, is widely regarded as one of the greatest fighters of all time. Known as “Manos de Piedra” (Hands of Stone) for his punching power, Durán’s career lasted from 1968 to 2001. That is a long long career for a boxer.

Durán has talked about an incident from his childhood that left him with a unique trait. As a young boy, he was hit in the eye with a rock, resulting in a permanent droop in his left eyelid. This injury gave Durán a distinctive look, contributing to his fierce ring presence. Despite this, his vision was not significantly impaired.

Bob Dylan – Hurricane

Hurricane is a protest song by Bob Dylan co-written with Jacques Levy, released in 1976 on Dylan’s album Desire. The song tells the story of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a middleweight boxer who was wrongfully convicted of a triple murder in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1966. Dylan’s song played a huge role in bringing Carter’s case to public attention.

Warren Zevon – The Ballad of Bill Lee

This song is about one of the most colorful baseball players ever. Bill Lee was called Spaceman because of his views on the world. He was from the 1960s counterculture when most baseball players were straight-laced. When asked about mandatory drug testing, Lee said “I’ve tried just about all of them, but I wouldn’t want to make it mandatory.”

This is from Warren Zevon’s 1980 album “Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School.” The song is a tribute to Bill “Spaceman” Lee.

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