For me, one of the delights of the post season games (especially in the World Series) is hearing the Star Spangled Banner played at the beginning of the game. It’s not a secret that one of my biggest desires and most impossible dreams is to sing the Star Spangled Banner before a baseball game. That probably won’t happen in my lifetime, but I always enjoy hearing other folks take it on as part of the baseball season. There’s been a trend in the last twenty years to spice it up a bit and put a pop feel to it. Some people hate that trend. They feel it is disrepectful. (For example, look up "disrepectful" in the baseball dictionary and you’ll find a picture of Roseanne Barr singing the Star Spangled Banner back in 1990. God awful!) But I like the trend. It inspires me.
I’ve been thinking about the songs of baseball games. Some teams, like the Red Sox, have their own song tradition (Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline before the bottom of the eighth inning) but almost all teams share the tradition of three songs played during the game.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Take Me Out to the Ball Game was written in 1908 and is the unofficial anthem of baseball. The words were written in 1908 by Jack Norworth (who also wrote Shine On Harvest Moon) who while riding a subway train, was inspired by a sign that said "Baseball Today — Polo Grounds". The song is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of a baseball game and tradition has it that fans sing along. What’s fun about this song is that it was originally written for a woman to sing as part of a duet. Baseball in the early century was seen more as a male pasttime, and this song is from the perspective of a woman who wants her date to take her to a baseball game instead of a theater show. See, even early on, girlfriends dug baseball!
Chicago’s Wrigley Field has taken this song a step further and currently invite a guest conductor to lead the crowd. This happens elsewhere, too. I saw Marian Ross (Mrs Cunningham from the Happy Days series) leading the crowd in Kansas City when they played against the Mariners in September. It is said “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” is the third most-often-played song in the United States, after "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "Happy Birthday to You".
There are verses to it as well but nobody ever sings them at a baseball game. However, in Ken Burns documentary series on baseball, Carly Simon sings the verses and pops it up a bit. (Nothing says "old-time" baseball like a tenor banjo!) Here’s a link to that version and a version with versus by the Andrew Sisters and Dan Dailey:
http://skyking162.com/2006/05/take-me-out-to-the-ball-game-mp3/
The fame of the song needs to be laid at the feet of Bill Veeck and Harry Caray of Chicago Fame. Hall of Fame sportscaster Harry Caray, was well known for leading the crowd in a singing of Take Me Out to the Ball Game by leaning out the window of his broadcasting booth and leading the crowd in the song. He started the tradition with the Chicago White Sox, but when he moved over to Wrigley Field, it really becames a Cubs tradition.
When Caray missed a number of games due to a stroke later in his career , "guest conductors" (including once a very drunk Bill Murray) did the honors and continued to be a tradition after Caray's death. If a game goes to the 14th inning at Wrigley Field, they will sing the song again.
Coincidentally, the year the song was written (1908) is the last year the Cubs won the World Series. A good omen?
To read even more about his song, go to this article from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080505&content_id=7228&vkey=hof_news
God Bless America
God Bless America was written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised in 1938 to be sung and made famous by Kate Smith. When you think of Kate Smith, you think of God Bless America (On the other hand, how often do yo think of Kate Smith?) Woody Guthrie wrote his song This Land Is Your Land in response.
It started out being played before the home games of the Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Team but started becoming part of baseball after the 9/11 Attacks against New York and the World Trade Towers. It replaced Take Me out to the Ball Game during the 7th inning Stretch in many ball parks for a while. Yankee Stadium is the only Major League ballpark to continue to play "God Bless America" in every game during the seventh-inning stretch. Tenor Ronan Tynan is a favorite at Yankee Stadium and usually tapped to sing it during all the including all playoff games. Well, not this year.
http://www.geocities.com/god_bless_america_lyrics/
The Star Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner is, of course, our national anthem. The lyrics come from a poem written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key who wrote "Defence of Fort McHenry" after seeing the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song and eventually became our National Anthem in 1931 during prohibition under Herbert Hoover. (A bit of irony, isn’t it?) With a range of one-and-a-half octaves, it is a bear for most people to sing and everyone muffs up the words (which I think is a perfect kind of national anthem the noisy, messy democracy we are.) We usually only sing one verse because that’s hard enough to remember itself.
According to Wikipedia, the playing of the song during the seventh-inning stretch of the 1918 World Series is often noted as the first instance that the anthem was played at a baseball game, but evidence shows that the "Star-Spangled Banner" was performed as early as 1897 at opening day ceremonies in Philadelphia and then more regularly at the Polo Grounds in New York City beginning in 1898. However, the tradition of performing the national anthem before every baseball game began in World War II.
The Star Spangled Banner used to be a pretty dry affair, usually with a high school chorus or an operatic singer or more likely a recording during which everyone took off their baseball caps and mumbled along. But things started charging up in 1968 when guitarist Jose Feliciano played it slow and bluesy before a crowd before Game Five of the 1968 World Series between Detroit and St. Louis. It was controversial at the time to sing an “interpretation” , but now, all bets are off. There are now countless different versions, interpretations and styles of the song. In fact, it has become a challenge to make your own unique interpretation. I believe that Aretha Franklin is the queen in this area (you go, girlfriend!) but most fans have their favorites. I’d love to hear a Zydeco version someday with a sassy accordion and banging rubboard. Maybe when I get to sing it, I’ll get Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys to back me up.
I know it’s impossible to sing for most people. I know some of the renditions of the song out there are truly horrible. I know that even professionals mess up the words. But there is something about those opening notes that’s just scream “play ball.”
I wish I had a recording to share you from the Queen of Soul from a baseball game. But I did find this great version from the 1996 Democratic Convention. Enjoy! And, Play Ball!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhyxr6gP3eo&feature=related
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