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covered bridges and baseball

14 May 01 - 10:57 AM (#461965)
Subject: covered bridges and baseball
From: Walking Eagle

Anybody know of any folk songs dealing with covered bridges and baseball? I would appreciate as much info as you can provide, titles, chords and stuff. Thanks!

14 May 01 - 12:10 PM (#462010)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: mousethief

Do you mean the song has to be about BOTH covered bridges AND baseball, or would you take songs JUST about covered bridges that don't mention baseball, or just about baseball that don't mention covered bridges?

Alex

14 May 01 - 01:13 PM (#462047)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Blackcatter

Maybe this is the Non-New Englander in me, but I think it'd be fun to try to play baseball in a covered bridge - of course, the fielders would have to wear a bit more protective equipment beyond a cup - ricochetting (sp?) hits off the ceiling and walls.

But except for behind the plate you wouldn't have to worry about foul balls.

Not much room for spectators, though.

15 May 01 - 08:01 AM (#462637)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: sophocleese

It could be a mystery sport. Two teams disappear into the covered bridge, you hear the thwack of bats hitting the ball, the crash of the ball hitting the walls, thuds as players run around, ocassionally a ball trickles slowly out one end or the other of the bridge, or a bat comes flying out. At last the two teams emerge again, stinking a little of some alcoholic beverage and announce the winner. Suspiciously they seem to have real battle on their hands as the wins go strictly back and forth on a game by game basis....Hmm, could be fun to arrange, who could you get to sponsor it?

15 May 01 - 08:16 AM (#462644)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Noreen

Obviously an American pastime- I won't go there! :0) (We're not being much help to the pedestrian avian, are we?)

Noreen

15 May 01 - 12:08 PM (#462808)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Walking Eagle

Seperate subjects please.

1. Covered bridges. 2. Baseball.

Treat 1 and 2 as SEPERATE ( but equal ) subjects.

15 May 01 - 12:10 PM (#462813)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: mousethief

Baseball songs are a lot easier than covered bridge songs, at least in this part of the country.

Do you want traditional songs or are modern compositions also welcome (sorry I should have asked this with my first question!)

Alex

15 May 01 - 12:50 PM (#462855)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: mousethief

Actually that's a stupid question, isn't it? Baseball isn't old enough to have child ballads written about it!

For songs in the DT, click here

Tom Paxton has 3 I know of; all 3 are in the DT: "The Baseball Kids"; "The Monkeys' Baseball Game" which is a kids song and a lot of fun, and "My Favorite Spring" which is sort of sentimental but very nice.

PPM do a song called "Right Field" -- lyrics here and in the next message.

Bob Bennett has a very nice song called "A Song About Baseball" which is really about his relationship with is dad, using baseball as the vehicle. I've posted it here before; click here. Indeed this was a whole thread about baseball songs; you might want to have a glance at that thread!

Hopefully this will get you started; if you want anything more specific, maybe you can tell us what you have in mind (songs about playing baseball, watching baseball, playing shortstop, etc.).

I don't know any songs about covered bridges; sorry.

Alex

15 May 01 - 12:50 PM (#462856)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: mousethief

Right Field
W/M by Willy Welch, copyright 1986 Playing Right Music

Saturday summers, when I was a kid
We'd run to the schoolyard and here's what we did
We'd pick out the captains and we'd choose up the teams
It was always a measure of my self esteem
Cuz the fastest, the strongest, played shortstop and first
The last ones they picked were the worst
I never needed to ask, it was sealed,
I just took up my place in right field.
Playing...

CHORUS:
Right field, it's easy, you know.
You can be awkward and you can be slow
That's why I'm here in right field=20
Just watching the dandelions grow

Playing right field can be lonely and dull
Little Leagues never have lefties that pull
I'd dream of the day they'd hit one my way
They never did, but still I would pray
That I'd make a fantastic catch on the run
And not lose the ball in the sun
And then I'd awake from this long reverie
And pray that the ball never came out to me
Here in...

CHORUS

(whistle a variation of Take Me Out To The Ballgame...)

Off in the distance, the game's dragging on,
There's strikes on the batter, some runners are on.
I don't know the inning, I've forgotten the score.
The whole team is yelling and I don't know what for.
Then suddenly everyone's looking at me
My mind has been wandering; what could it be?
They point at the sky and I look up above
And a baseball falls into my glove.

Here in right field, it's important you know.
You gotta know how to catch, you gotta know how to throw,
That's why I'm here in Right Field, just watching the dandelions grow!

15 May 01 - 01:13 PM (#462889)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Blackcatter

Sorry Walking Eagle - we were having a bit of fun with your request - it sounded odd to me to ask for two radically different subjects in the same thread.

Good luck finding covered bridge songs - I can't imagine I've ever heard of one.

Sophocleese: Maybe a "dark" ale could sponsor the game - you know - to sort of play on the mystery of the ale. I wonder what the teams' names would be?

The Hartford Bridgemasters

The Boston Underwraps

The Manchester Mystery Men

pax yall

15 May 01 - 05:42 PM (#463089)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Noreen

For category 1. I can only think of The Bridges of Madison County *sigh* but can't think of any relevant songs, sorry.

15 May 01 - 06:22 PM (#463128)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Sorcha

I can't believe nobody has said "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" yet!

16 May 01 - 01:54 AM (#463509)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Blackcatter

Hey Sorcha,

For "Covered Baseball" shouldn't it be "Take Me Into the Ball Game?"

Take me into the ball game
Take me down to the bridge
Buy me a helmet and miners' light
I want to play all day and through night
For it's BAM! SOCK! AIIIEEEEE! for the home team
I know that the rules might be lame
For its through the roof for a ho-o-o-mer
In the covered-ball game!

yeeeeeeshhh...

16 May 01 - 11:33 AM (#463807)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Walking Eagle

Playing baseball in a covered bridge sort of gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "hitting one into the rafters" doesn't it? I LIKE "Take Me into the Ball Game!" All laffs and parodies much appreciated!

16 May 01 - 04:05 PM (#464087)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Jacob B

Two of my favorite modern baseball songs (which I haven't heard in a decade or two) are "Blasted in the Bleachers" and "Man, How Did We Ever Blow That Lead".

As for covered bridges, I've been told (while being kissed) that it's traditional to kiss while inside a covered bridge. Surely someone's written a song about that tradition!

Jacob

16 May 01 - 04:08 PM (#464091)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: MMario

I'm sure there are some covered bridge songs on the levy site - if it would only come back up!

16 May 01 - 04:39 PM (#464114)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Lonesome EJ

Actually Mousethief, Childe #139 contains clear references to baseball

In Sommer

In Sommer whan the sonne does shine
Ande the corn it riseth face-talle
Then folke will gaither onne the Green
To playye a lyttle baesbol

Withe gluves and battes they gather there
And laye them outte a dyamond
And tosse the bol and scamper about
with Mary, Thom and Simon

Ande Smyth the Brewer strolles the standes
To hawke his producte fine
And selle to Rob while Peter shouts
"Whatte Stryke?! The Umpyre's blinde!"

And Tim the Peanutte Seller
Wille tosse his packes of nuttes
To folk who passe himme shillynges
While syttynge on their buttes

And O The crack of batte on bol
when batter hittes his marke!
And though the fielder climbes the walle
The bol has lefte the Parke!

16 May 01 - 05:01 PM (#464132)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: JenEllen

Fave baseball songs? How's about this one:

Summertime of '61, every Saturday
I'd take my own Spaghettios for dinner and I'd stay
My granddad was a quiet man doing crosswords in the chair
But he'd become a rabid fan with baseball on the air

We listened to the radio, we watched them on TV
Can't say I understood but it was magical to me
Especially the Yankees, we cheered for every move
And all those hours of Mickey Mantle finally would prove.......that

Chorus:
I like baseball, I watch it on the tube
I buy my tickets at the dome, go in and come unglued
I've been to Dodgers Stadium, seen the Sox at old Fenway
Oh I like baseball, even though I do not play

I had an uncle in New York who seemed to understand
One day he came to see us with presents in hand
He gave me not your usual doll, but cast in plaster of Paris
His bobbing head upon a spring, my idol, Roger Maris

But we girls weren't taught to throw the ball
The way that pitchers do
No matter how I swung the bat I only hit a few
Projectiles falling from the sky put fear into my heart
Too slow to run the bases well, it doomed me from the start
But (chorus) I like baseball.....even though I cannot play

However, can you tell me just who it is to blame
That not since the '50's have women played the game
If they ever get a commissioner, the first thing she should do
Is put us back in uniform and we'll play hardball too
'Cause (chorus) I like baseball....even though they don't let us play

Someday I'll be in heaven or in some such place above
And at the end of my outstretched wing will be a fielder's glove
I'll be batting homers completely out of sight
Me and Randy Johnson, we'll pitch at the speed of light
'Cause (chorus) I like baseball...even though I do not play

16 May 01 - 07:48 PM (#464267)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Murray MacLeod

For the benefit of UK members who are reading this thread with increasing mystification, may I just explain that covered bridges are part of the New England architecural heritage. The bridges are just bridges (over rivers) with a roof built over them, and the reason for the roof is to prevent snow falling on to the bridge, so that in wintertime the bridge doesn't have to suffer the stress and strain of a snowplough clearing the way.

These bridges are actually masterpieces of the carpenter's art, comparable in many ways to the carpentry found in the spires of mediaeval cathedrals. Vermont has the finest examples, but Maine has some nice ones too.

Murray

16 May 01 - 08:15 PM (#464285)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Charley Noble

Covered Bridges? We've sure got them in Maine but I've never heard a song about them. Guess you just don't know what you've got till it's gone.

16 May 01 - 08:18 PM (#464287)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Mark Cohen

Steve Goodman wrote one about the Cubs...I remember hearing him do it. There was a line about "The land of the free, the home of the brave...and the doormat of the National League."

Aloha,
Mark

16 May 01 - 11:16 PM (#464375)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Mark Cohen

...and there are also many beautiful covered bridges in Oregon. I used to drive over one to visit my daughter in Vida, outside of Eugene, before my almost ex moved to Colorado. Don't know any songs about them, though...

Mark

31 May 01 - 05:09 PM (#473894)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Walking Eagle

Thanks for the help 'catters. Now if anyone could just provide the durn chords for these right nice tunes, this Cincinnati Reds fan would be right grateful!

Guess I'll just have to get my noodle in gear and write a few songs about covered bridges. And the kissin' part as well!

03 Jun 01 - 12:32 PM (#475757)
Subject: RE: covered bridges and baseball
From: Art Thieme

In Oregon there used to be a covered bridge on the road between Newport and Corvallis (off to your right when going East)---but that was 1967... (If you went West, you'd get pretty wet.)

Art Thieme