fredag 7 november 2014

Bluesball, first base

Jag har haft datorstrul och inte lyckats ladda ned de poesialster som jag behövde för veckans inlägg. Därför lät jag onsdagens Tunnelbana och gårdagens Utblick vila. I dag blir det emellertid music-time, en återgång till Musikfredag, under titeln "Bluesball". Vad döljer den, tror ni? Läs vidare får ni se.

*

När det gäller de fyra stora lagsporterna i USA är det utan tvekan baseboll som märks mest i sångtexter och lyrik. Det tänker jag delge er under fyra fredagar.


Första basen: Boston

Boston Red Sox's hymn heter "Tessie". Här får ni en cover på den av punkrockbandet Dropkick Murphys (gruppen bildades 1996).

Tessie, performed by Dropkick Murphys. Text & Music: Barr, Casey, Kelly, Lynch, Orrell.
(From album "Tessie". Label: Hellcat Records, 2004.)



Tessie is the Royal Rooters rally cry
Tessie is the tune they always sung
Tessie echoed April through October nights
After serenading Stahl, Dinneen and Young
Tessie is a maiden with a sparkling eye
Tessie is a maiden with a love
She doesn't know the meaning of her sight
She's got a comment full of love

And sometimes when the game is on the line

Tessie always carried them away
Up the road from "Third Base" to Huntington
The boys will always sing and sway

Two! Three! Four!


Tessie, "Nuf Ced" McGreevey shouted

We're not here to mess around
Boston, you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Tessie, you are the only only only

The Rooters showed up at the grounds one day

They found their seats had all been sold
McGreevey led the charge into the park
Stormed the gates and put the game on HOLD
The Rooters gave the other team a dreadful fright
Boston's tenth man could not be wrong
Up from "Third Base" to Huntington
They'd sing another victory song

Two! Three! Four!


Tessie, "Nuf Ced" McGreevey shouted

We're not here to mess around
Boston, you know we love you madly
Hear the crowd roar to your sound
Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
You know we couldn't live without you
Tessie, you are the only only only

The Rooters gave the other team a dreadful fright

Boston's tenth man could not be wrong
Up from "Third Base" to Huntington
They'd sing another victory song
***

Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams (1918-2002) spelade under hela sin karriär (19 säsonger) för Boston Red Sox. Han anses vara en av de bästa slagmännen i basebollens historia.

Ted "Fucking" Williams, performed by "The Baseball Project"
Text & Music: Steve Wynn. Gruppen bildades 2007.
(From album "Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails". Label: Yep Rock, 2008.)

Everyone's so kind and humble
Don't you know that I can see right through it?
Keeping all their comments down
You know it ain't a boast if you can do it
And everyone says "Say hey"
And everyone says "Did you see that kid play?"
I've got to give the kid a hand
But there's nothing that he can do better than I can
I'm Ted Fucking Williams

People say it's hard to like a man

Who doesn't fail and show he's a human
But failure's not a sign of grace
It only means you don't know what you're doing
And everyone says "Hey, Mick"
Mantle this, Mantle that, it makes me sick
It's just so hard to see
Why do they like him better than me?
I'm Ted Fucking Williams



And everyone says "Hey, Duke"
Like everything I did was some kind of fluke
I gotta give the Duke a hand
But there's nothing that he can do better than I can
I'm Ted Fucking Williams
***

Jag avslutar nattmatchen med en riktig hit, framförd av en talangfull baseboll-spelare som gick över från "andra basen" till bluesscenen. Under en period i slutet av 70-talet var George och bandet "Destroyers" baserade i Boston och spelade på klubbarna där. 

Move it on over, performed by George Thorogood (f. 1950) & The Destroyers. Text & Music: Hank Williams.
(From album "Move It On Over". Label: Rounder, 1978.)


Inga kommentarer:

Skicka en kommentar