World Series of Songs

I was going to post this for My Buddy Brad but he actually sent the exact same clip to me this morning. What are the odds? This is an all-time great song by The Mountain Goats. Basically he says that he'll love his girl again when the Cubs win the World Series. I guess they're not getting back together.



So here are my songs for each team in the playoffs. We then can do a musical baseball playoffs like we did for the World Cup where "My Way" by Frank Sinatra was crowned champion as the representative for Italy.

THE NATIONAL LEAGUE

Chicago Cubs:
"Cubs in Five" by The Mountain Goats.
See video above. The song is a bit outdated since the Tampa Bucs HAVE “made it all the way to January” but Bill Gates still has not “single-handedly spearheaded the Heaven 17 revival”. Is the misery of being a Cubs fan over? They have a shot.

Arizona Diamondbacks:
“Snakes and Martyrs” by TV On The Radio
"I hold you close and smile. Fake. Like they do way out west.” That says it all about these snakes. They’re not real contenders.

Philadelphia Phillies:
“Comin Back” by Citizen Cope
They just completed one of the greatest comebacks in sports history…which means the “Amazin’” New York Mets completed a historical collapse. I wanted the Phils to win only because it would mean that pain would be inflicted on Mets fans (Big Poppa Hops excluded). But now that they playoffs have started I could care less about them. Ryan Howard did go to the same High School as Mrs. Hops. She had no idea who he was.

Colorado Rockies:
“Thunder on the Mountain” by Bob Dylan
A good song for a team I don’t really see play very often. They wear purple, they play a mile up in the atmosphere and they can hit.
“Gonna raise me an army, some tough sons of bitches. I'll recruit my army from the orphanages”

THE AMERICAN LEAGUE

Boston Red Sox:
"War on War" by Wilco
As the song says: “You’re gonna lose. You have to lose.”
Let’s move on from the no good stinking Red Sox.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim:
"I Love L.A." by Randy Newman
They love LA so much that they call themselves the LA Angels… even though they used to be the California Angels, then the Anaheim Angels…and don’t play in LA. It’s a bit of a bait and switch.
“Hate New York City. It's cold and it's damp. And all the people dressed like monkeys.
Let's leave Chicago to the Eskimos. That town's a little bit too rugged”

Cleveland Indians:
"Scenario" by Tribe Called Queset
Cleveland was tough. What do you say about the “Mistake by the lake”? I have actually only been there once but I really liked it. The town gets a bad rap – and therefore I won’t make fun of the city. This is a perfect song for a team nicknamed “The Tribe”.
“Yes yes y'all - who got the vibe it's the Tribe y'all (Tribe y'all!)”

And for you Yankee Bastards (myself included):

New York Yankees:
"All or Nothing At All" by Frank Sinatra
I’m hoping the Sinatra streak lives on! The Yankees will accept nothing short of the World Series. So if we’re not going to win it… then we might as well lose to the Indians (though not the Red Sox… that would be a disaster).

Did you know that the home of baseball and the home of Frank Sinatra are both Hoboken, NJ? That is a fact.

Halloween In March

Check out this great video from Aesop Rock. Why didn't they wait until Halloween to release this?

"Coffee" by Aesop Rock


I was fairly shocked to see John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats appear in the video. Who would have dreamed up that combo? But apparently they are into creepy bloody videos as well.

"This Year" by The Mountain Goats

Hops Recommends ...

Looking for some sources (other than Hops of course) for good music? Here are some of my favorites:

On The Interweb:
Daytrotter - this site is amazing. Somehow they get a ton of fantastic bands to swing by the Quad Cities in Iowa to play a set which they then record and post for free. Now I'm not ripping on the Quad Cities. In fact I can even say I've BEEN to the Quad Cities.... my college roomate, Miseur Gimbert resided there for most of his life. Somewhere in my house there is a photo of me at the John Deere museum riding a tractor. Ah... good memories. Anyway, check out Iowa's famous Daytrotter site. They have a ton of great bands including The Thermals, Mountain Goats, The National and DC's own These United States.

Hype Machine - a search engine for mp3s posted on blogs.

To buy music check out emusic, Amie Street and AmazonMp3s. All are excellent, legal and DRM free!

On the television:
From the Basement - a new show created by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead's producer). Show 1 featured Thom Yorke. I get this on my Rave HD Channel.

Later...with Jools Holland - the greatest music show ever made. Again, I get this on RAVE HD but I believe Fuse shows reruns as well. The amount of bands who have played the show since 1992 is impressive: Van Morrison, Pearl Jam, John Fogerty, The National, Arcade Fire and the list goes on and on and on.