Music on Only A Game 11/28/2009

If you heard a song played during this week's Only A Game and just have to know what it was, this is the post for you.

You’ve Got To Be A Football Hero by The University of Michigan Band (from 41 Great College Victory Songs, Vanguard, 1987)

Gary's take: That bit of titular wisdom has been borne out again and again in America. You do have to be a football hero. Especially if you belong to the 0.94 percent of the population that actually plays football.

Sugar Ray by The Jesus and Mary Chain (from Honey’s Dead, Blanco y Negro/Rhino, 2006)

Gary's take: Somehow I don’t think the JMC wrote the song about Sugar Ray Robinson. Ooops. I have entire CD’s of music devoted to Muhammad Ali and Joe Louis, but no Sugar Ray Robinson. So you’ll just have to listen to a bunch of scrawny Scottish alt-rockers who almost certainly can’t box.

Cold Turkey by The Soft Boys (from A Can of Bees, Two Crabs Records, 1979)

Gary's take: Yeah, I know, John Lennon wrote and sang this originally, but let’s mix it up a little, eh? Plus this version is a little more palatable than Lennon’s, which was obviously about the agony of heroin withdrawal. Hitchcock probably thought the song was about not listening to Syd Barrett records for a few days.

Buttons and Bows by Betty Garrett (from The Envelope Please…Academy Award Winning Songs Vol. 2-1946-1957, Rhino Records, 1996)

Gary's take: This is the same Betty Garrett who played Archie Bunker’s liberal neighbor, Irene Lorenzo, on All in the Family. Betty Garrett: Renaissance Woman!