A colleague of a friend leads a children’s dance group. They are going to do a dance number about American Football (I assume with fitting costumes). Now she’s looking for suitable songs. They are planning a number of about two and a half minutes, which is accompanied by an edit of snippets from about 5 or 6 songs. They don’t have to be about football, but should somehow get the mood right. Since this in in Germany where almost nobody knows anything about American Football, it wouldn’t automatically work with songs that are obviously related to the sport for Americans, but the songs should at least give an American vibe.
There’s one more caveat: the songs should be rather well known by the audience. Since I don’t expect the typical doper to know the Germans’ musical knowledge, a good criterion would be if the song had been a big hit, because many US hits chart here too.
My friend came up with Van Halen’s Jump and James Brown’s Living in America, two excellent choices IMHO.
But I almost drew a blank when he asked me, the only two I could think of were Chuck Berry’s Back in the USA and Tom Petty’s American Girl, but they’re both not very well known here.
Todd Rundgren has a song that is perfect called Just One Victory, with the chorus
*Hold that line, baby hold that line
Get up boys and hit 'em one more time
We may be losing now but we can’t stop trying
So hold that line, baby hold that line
*
…but it doesn’t meet the criteria of being a familiar hit song. On the other hand, he wrote a breathtakingly stupid song called Bang On The Drum All Day that has nothing to do with football, but has somehow become a song played at football games.
Little ditty about Jack and Diane
Two American kids growing up in the heartland
Jacky’s gonna be a football star
Diane debutante backseat of Jacky’s car
The only music that I really associate with football are the various college (and occasionally pro) fight songs…nut the only one I’d think might even possibly be familiar to a German audience would be the Notre Dame fight song, because I’m fairly certain it’s been featured in a number of movies and TV shows.
I doubt it’s terribly big in Germany, but the old Monday Night Football theme song certainly connotes “football” around here…
Meatloaf’s “All Revved Up With No Place to Go” has this verse:
I was a varsity tackle and a hell of a block
When I played my guitar
I made the canyons rock, but
Every Saturday Night
I felt the fever grow
Do ya know what it’s like
All revved up with no place to go
Do ya know what it’s like
All revved up with no place to go
Which may or may not work for what you’re looking for.
Also may want to consider “Sweet Home Alabama (Roll Tide Roll version)”. This Lynyrd Skynyrd anthem is often played at home games of the reigning and likely next BCS National Champions. Whenever the band sings “Sweet Home Alabama” the crowd adds “Roll Tide Roll”. Multiple clips available on YouTube.
Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” is often used when the home team is on defense. Even marching bands play at least the signature riff from it.
Guns n Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” has nothing to do with football, but is still often played at stadiums. LSU uses it, as do many high school teams with Tiger mascots. Sometimes played prior to kickoffs, or during pregame warmups.
Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” is another defense oriented song, but not heard very often lately.