St. John’s Today, The Mets 40 Years Ago…Why Don’t We Have More Original Songs Tied To Our Teams?

There I was sitting on a Delta flight to Sicily when a young man sat next to me and out his guitar in the overhead bin. It took a while before we got to talking and he told me his name was Christian Sparacio and too was heading to the Island with his family for a vacation. The reason for the guitar case was that his passion was music, and he had authored several songs as he worked around his day job.

One song he told me, was for the St. John’s Athletic Department. His dad was a St. John’s grad, and through some connections he came up with an original score for the Johnnie’s which they played at the year-end banquet complete with highlights, and there was interest into perhaps building it into more as Rick Pitino’s next season got going (the song has the blessing of the coach). You can hear and see it here.

I was reminded of the song when this weekend I got an email from colleague and creative storyteller Shelly Palmer, who included in his weekly email on all things digital that this was the 40^th anniversary…at the end of August…of a catchy, and yes award-winning song he had co-authored as the Mets made their 1986 World Series run. The song, “Let’s Go Mets Go,” became the anthem of the last championship in Flushing, and you can watch it all, and read the story of the how…here.

Both of these got me to thinking, why aren’t there more self-authored anthems that teams…especially colleges come up with as their own signature piece. We all know about others songs that have become anthems…’Sweet Caroline and the Red Sox, “Wonder Wall” and the English National Team, “Sirius” during the Chicago Bulls run, “Who Let The Dogs Out” and on and on…as well as player walk in music in a sport like baseball (“Enter The Sandman” for Yankees Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera) …but there have been very few custom anthems for teams.

A few yes…” The Icky Shuffle” for the Bengals, “Fly Eagles Fly,” “Go Cubs Go,”…but not as many as maybe there should be. Now we recently found a fun little one that was done with the help of AI. It’s called “Hey Jose, Let’s Go, Sermo,” and it a fun little tribute to Fargo-Morehead Red Hawks DH Jose Sermo, who is chasing the MLB Partner League Home Run record, a modern day version of the mythical “Crash Davis”  of Bull Durham fame. While not a chart topper, it gives a good insight into what could be done.

Now obviously there may be some copyright issues, and you fall prey to the court of public opinion, but with all the celebrities chasing sports, the affinity between music and athletics, the growth of the creator economy and on and on, why aren’t there more original scores in and around sports? You already own most of the IP, and there is revenue and social status to be had.

If the Johnnies can do it, whose next?