New Song Idea

I do wish we had a longer song or two. One thing I've wondered about, though, is why we'd need to change any lyrics at all. In conversations about this topic, people sometimes bring up Liverpool's use of "You'll Never Walk Alone"; to the best of my knowledge, they don't use Liverpool-specific words to that song. They just sing the song as-is. Maybe there's a song out there that's inspiring of its own accord, and doesn't need rewritten lyrics to do us up right? I dunno.

 

I once suggested using the old Rod Stewart chestnut, "You're in my Heart" on these boards. I still think it's a good idea.

clip:
You're in my heart, you're in my soul
You'll be my breath should I grow old
You are my lover, you're my best friend
You're in my soul

My love for you is immeasurable
My respect for you immense
You're ageless, timeless, <grace> and fineness
You're beauty and elegance

You're a rhapsody, a comedy
You're a symphony and a play
You're every love song ever written
But honey what do you see in me

(chorus)

You're an essay in glamour
Please pardon the grammar
But you're every schoolboy's dream
You're <DC> united, but baby i've decided
You're the best team i've ever seen
:clip

Kinda brings a tear to your eye don't it?

 

Back in the Marines, we used a cadence chant that was a bit off color, but I'm sure the lyrics could be made to suit our club.
It went:
(call and repeat)
1)Every where we go
2)People wanna know
3)Who we are
4)So we tell them
(cadence changes to quick time)(helps to imagine it being echoed)
5)Now we're the boys from (plt#) you heard so much about
6)The mothers take their daughters in whenever we come out
7)People say we're crazy cause the crazy things we do
8)Now we're the boys from (plt#) now who the hell are you?

I could see this coming out with boys changed to club and platoon # changed to DC, and the call being answered by the drums, where it could start out and be picked up as it got louder, drums would easily identify it going on.
Lines 6 and 7 could be changed to better reflect the clubs playing style, or fan pride, or whatever. Line 6 should rhyme with out and 7 with you though.
So it could be
Every where we go (drums) dah-dah-de-dah-dah
People wanna know (drums) dah-dah-de-dah-dah
Who we are (drums) dah-de-dah-dah
So we tell them (drums) dah-de-dah-dah
(drums here could go samba style, something to match the running cadence)
We're the club from DC you heard so much about
Keepers push their lines up whenever we come out
Hunt's Cup, 4 League Cups, an American Double too-
We're los campageonas(sp?) from DC now who the hell are you?

or something like that.

For something more musical, I always thought they should edit AC/DC's "Back In Black", starting with the opening riff, going to the lead in on the chorus.
Something short and sweet to punctuate scoring goals at home.

 

This brings up a good idea, one that's a problem for me figuring on my own. See, the Liverpool song is famous in it's own right, but the reason for it being sung is because one of their local artists covered the song and made it into some sort of hit, possibly a #1 in England, IIRC. Lucky that the lyrics struck as well to make it stick with their supporters.

SO- to follow that pattern, what local artist can we tap for a wildly popular song? England benefits IMO from being a smaller country, but what/who can we reach for?
We have a few, just don't know that their songs fit our club.
Chuck Brown, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Tori Amos, Fugazi, Foo Fighters, ...
a few off the top to start with...

 

Local DC artists, and you don't mention these guys?

[youtube]eaHYvkjH_QY[/youtube]

 

OMG- Starland Vocal Band... nice. Although, singing this could get us all some strange looks from the visiting team, broadcasters....
Let Philadelphia keep the "city of brotherly love" moniker-
we'll take the "boom-chika-bah-wah" title with this one.

 

1) http://youtube.com/watch?v=F8NOoWoaZ84

U-NI-TED <> <> <> <> <>
DC U-NI-TED <> <> <> <> <>
Wher-ever you go, We Shall Follow
U-NI-I-TED <> <> <> <> <>
NA-NA-NA <> <> <> <> <>
NA-NA-NA-NA-NA-NA <> <> <> <> <>
NA-NA-NA-NA-NA, NA NA NA NA NA
D-C UNITED
(repeat from top)

2) http://youtube.com/watch?v=MPyH5mfQntg
We all hate New York
We all hate New York
We all hate New York
We all hate New York
Four-teen years (******** off)
Four-teen years (******** off)
Four-teen years (******** off)
Four-teen years (******** off)
Four-teen years (******** off)
Four-teen years (******** off)
Four-teen years (******** off)
Four-teen years (******** off)

3) http://youtube.com/watch?v=JZGSDeqLhdU (use any city/team name)

If I had the wings of a sparrow
If I had the arse of a crow
Id flow over New York(city) tomorrow
And Shit on the Red Bulls (team mascot) below BELOW
Shit On
Shit On
Shit on the Red Bulls(team mascot) below BELOW
Shit on
Shit on
Shit on the Red Bulls (team mascot) below

let me know if you guys like these, i can get some more

 

we need a song -a dc united anthem -for the entire stadium to sing, a booming chorus reverberating through rfk - not just us in a few sections

something clean for the kiddies and soccer moms
a song for everyone to hold up their arms and scarves

would this be possible?
hand out lyric flyers at gates when people go in?

 

When you put it like that, I think the closest thing to it the team's already got is the Vamos United chant. It's been reported in the media as surprisingly musical compared with the usual chants that get sung.
IMHO when it's sung with spirit, it's the most beautiful composition in the league bar none. Maybe someone at the FO could take a listen with a composer and get something done to music, melody is pretty obvious when it's heard.

Vamos United
Vamos.
Vamos United.
Esta noche,
Te-ne-mos-que ganar.

 

The first two are Ok, this one is already done by us.

 

I love this when we do it well (almost as much as Volveremos); but it's not the kind of thing people are talking about here. It's not long enough and doesn't vary enough.

 

regarding an anthem the whole stadium can sing in the likes of "You'll Never Walk Alone'' I figured how about the foo fighter's song everlong or even my hero ?

they have simple melodies and i'm sure most people are familiar with the foo fighters


[youtube]PGQAfolOJUI[/youtube]

[youtube]BkogKAZGm_g[/youtube]

 

Oh, I've been on the Afternoon Delight bandwagon for about a year now (as has kirchausen, I believe)... But I've recently become enamored of that Michael Jackson "Ben" video that Matt posted a day or so ago. I mean, come on - BEN. Just change a couple of words... maybe throw in some caveman and body hair references, and you're golden.

Goddamnit I've got some wicked platonic man-love for Ben Olsen. Let's make it happen!!

Besides... just imagine the reactions of visiting players and fans when we drop Afternoon Delight and Ben on them back to back - it'd be worth it just for that!

 

Now this could work and should be done ASAP, (read next home match) but for a team anthem, I concur, this isn't quite solving that particular problem.
While I'd be interested in hearing how the Foo Fighter songs would/could be worked out, trust me when I say we need input from the Barra's percussion in getting anything off the ground. So- Grillmaster, Dangermouse -any ideas, critiques?
If they can play the rhythm and it can be identified, the song is sure-fire to catch on. Besides, the drums not only help keep folks in rhythm, but also help amplify the song before the lyrics are sung loud enough to be caught onto(thinking we're after the whole stadium in on this effort).
I've witnessed this effect at plenty of matches @ RFK, and tried to position myself when playing my own tama near the Eagles, for the sole intention of linking as many on the singing side as possible. Back in the days of La Norte sitting behind the North Goal, their use of a cymbal was great in linking their rhythms and chants to the others- you could hear it clearly nearly everywhere in the stadium. Those and cowbells seem to cut very well above the general crowd noise. Anyone with a copy of the 2004 playoff game vs. NE, next time you listen to it, see if you can hear a cowbell being played during the chants- it was my father playing right next to me and my tom-tom, well behind the Barra Brava's section.

All this goes without saying the song, whichever it ends up being, will get more rep for coming straight out of the fans in the stands, without getting piped in from the stadium's audio.

 

And they'd tie in locally how?
This illustrates how hard it is to come up with the triple whammy-local artist, #1 or top ten song, and topical.

Another great near miss (or not, depends on what we want to roll out) would be Peaches & Herb's Reunited. (#1 hit,local artist, but topical (?))

For the ties, check the link, especially with Herb.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaches_&_Herb

Reunited and it feels so good Reunited 'cause we understood
There's one perfect fit And, sugar, this one is it
We both are so excited
'Cause we're reunited, hey, hey

Change Reunited to We're United or D.C. United, both to all and what've we got? maybe even sugar to MLS or something
Possibly a lot of work to come up with verses, or leave as is and run a theme along with Afternoon Delight?
A catchier option might be their Shake Your Groove Thing, which hit #5.
The chorus sure matches the swagger our club is supposed to represent.

Shake your groove thing
Shake your groove thing, yeah yeah
Show 'em how we do it now

Shake your groove thing
Shake your groove thing, yeah yeah
Show 'em how we do it now
Show 'em how we do it now

Once again, the verses are sketchy, so- ....

 

Are you guys looking for something like You'll Never Walk Alone, or are you looking for something like Sweet Caroline in Boston, Take Me Out to the Ballgame at Fenway, or God Bless America in NY?

 

Only "somewhat classy"? Afternoon Delight? It's a song about ********ing in the afternoon! Come on! What could possibly be classier?!?!?

 

Definitely the first, with only the volume of the second, and btw- they play the other 2 all over the country NOT just in Boston and NY.

Back to the thread topic though- The biggest challenge before whatever's offered is getting enough folks to easily recognize the lyrics to want to join in.
I'd choose Foo Fighters for the Grohl Rockville connection, but don't know how many could nail the lyrics. For another "hip" local kinda contemporary suggestion, is there anything the Pietasters ever did that made it big?
Obviously, rhythm is a big consideration too. Too many gaps between verses, and the timing of the crowd gets out of whack, and that kills volume.

Best bet is to kick this around at the pre-match tailgates, cause whatever gets enough momentum out of there to be sung inside RFK will have a better chance of catching on than whatever is merely being discussed here.
I'd definitely use ideas here to break the ice, get things going, etc. even to the point of working some out, however silly they might seem being sung at first.
I mean, who knows what actually happened to spurn the popularity of "You'll never walk alone" in the first place? What did the recorded cover sound like? Could have been some satirical joke from pub crawlers that got it started... who can say? It wouldn't damage the tradition that's been established one ounce, and it sounds f'in awesome.
And that's what we want. Something everyone gets behind, so whenever they hear it during a match, they know it's us.Whats more, it gets folks thinkng- "Wow! and Hey, that's got a local thing to it, now how the hell did they think of doing that? Cool! "

 

You want classy- do it the way it was arranged, with men doing the male lyrics, women doing the female lyrics, and harmonize the rest.

Melody most will recognize, and if it's done well enough 1st roll out, there should be plenty that will be intrigued enough to want to learn it.

 

I could be wrong, but I think it was the Yankees who started the God Blesss America during the 7th inning stretch. They started it after the 9/11 attacks. I also think that they are the only team to do it every game for the 7th inning stretch.

 

Here is the history behind Liverpool and You'll Never Walk Alone. From wikipedia:

In England, the song's most successful performance was recorded in 1963 by the Liverpudlian Merseybeat group Gerry and the Pacemakers (peaking at number one in the singles chart for four consecutive weeks). It quickly became the anthem of Liverpool Football Club and is invariably sung by its supporters moments before the start of each home game.[2][3] The words You'll Never Walk Alone also feature in the club crest and on the Shankly Gate entrance to the stadium. Gerry Marsden told BBC Radio how, in the nineteen-sixties, the deejay at Anfield would play the top-ten commercial records in ascending order, with the number one single transmitted last, shortly before kickoff. Supporters standing on the Spion Kop terrace would sing along, and once You'll Never Walk Alone dropped out of the top-ten, says Marsden, they continued to sing it.[4][5] The song was later adopted by the Scottish team Celtic.[3]

A special recording was made in solidarity with Bradford City following the Valley Parade fire in 1985, when 56 fans died and many more were injured. The song was performed by The Crowd (including Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney and Rolf Harris).[6]

On 19th April 1989, a few days after the Hillsborough Disaster resulted in the deaths of 96 fans of Liverpool Football Club, a European Cup semi-final between A.C. Milan and Real Madrid was played. The referee blew his whistle 6 minutes into the game to stop play (the game at Hillsborough stadium had been stopped at 3:06) and held a minute's silence. About 20 seconds into the silence the Milan fans began to sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" as a tribute to those who died.[7]


I don't like the idea of coming up with a "You'll Never Walk Alone" equivalent for DC United. As much as I like DC United and The Foo Fighters, singing one of the songs seems kind of silly. I think we should just stck with the chants/songs we currently have. Come up with some new chants, but I don;t think singing an entire song by a local artist is a good idea.