…especially at night in Sanford, or in a takeover of another team’s stadium, is always a Point of Bulldawg Pride for most of us. I wouldn’t trade that for anything. You’ve got the Redcoat Band, a soaring classic John Williams theme, and thousands of cell phone batteries draining into the red all at once. Chill bumps appear and I am frozen in the web they weave…*
Which leads me to ask, just as a fun little thought experiment: Let’s say a long time from now, one of the titans of the Athens music scene goes off to the Great Gig in the Sky. The Sanford Stadium In-Game Programming Committee** decides to honor their memory with a singalong a la what the Handbags do with Tom Petty and “I Won’t Back Down”.***
What Athens musician(s) would rate this type of treatment in your mind?
What song would you choose to hear 93,000 of your closest friends sing in their memory?
At what point during the game would be appropriate to do this?
Or…since Tom Petty got there first and Florida jumped on it, you just cannot stomach the thought of looking like we’re copying the lizard people?
My vote would be for any of the boys from R.E.M. with “The One I Love” being short enough for a TV timeout, easily memorized lyrics, a simple chorus of “Fire!” that gives the harmonizers in the crowd a chance to float above it…
One that would be funny to see is Widespread Panic’s “Chilly Water”. I would expect a repeat from when Panic opened for the Rolling Stones in Denver a few years ago. Unbeknownst to the older Stones fans in the crowd, the tradition when “Chilly Water” starts playing is to take a water bottle and sling water all over and around. You can imagine the grumpiness this caused. If Georgia were to implement this as tradition, I would suggest anyone sitting near the student section to bring a poncho.
What say y’all?
*Name that tune.
**I totally made this committee up. It’s probably a couple of interns.
***I know you all just heard Ranger Russ: “FTMF gotdam hippies”
I’LL Be Watching You, Police/Sting
To the opponent … “Everybody Hurts”
“Rock Lobster” wouldn’t be a bad alternative.
We don’t need this. Let the Bammers sing their song about Tennessee and the Handbags have their song about backing down (although free fallin’ is better for them).
4th quarter Krypton is not something to mess with.
Georgia by Ray Charles. I know the Redcoats play an instrumental of it, but when Ray sings it, if you ain’t crying by the end, you ain’t wired right, your feet stink, and you don’t love Jesus.
I was thinking it’d need to be REM. My choice would either be Pop Song 89 or Orange Crush. That said I wouldn’t t want to do it. Let the handbags have their thing.
I never got the affection for Krypton the dayum planet blows up. It’s a loser’s song. However, if it’s gonna be a song that’s a downer – “End of the World as We Know It” by the Rapid Eye Movement might work. Although for me personally, DBT’s “Women Without Whiskey” generally starts the 4th qtr fade to black around closing time on a Saturday night. Someone mentioned “Georgia” by Ray Charles, that’s one I could get behind (don’t be lewd).
Bring in a Georgia born artist every home game to sing Georgia Own My Mind.
BlackBerry Smoke – Your Hear Georgia
Somehow incorporate “Home Field Advantage” by Drive-by Truckers. Song has a long, building intro. Don’t know if it’s popular enough, but it’s certainly appropriate.
I’ve always thought that playing Rock Lobster between the 3rd and 4th quarters, a la Wisconsin’s Jump Around or Oregon’s Shout, would be a pretty cool and fun thing to do.
As for pre-game, I like the Orange Crush idea above, and have thought that a loop of the intro from “Leave” off New Adventure in Hi-Fi would be pretty cool.