Rails from the Rails 19 – Let the Music Play

Rails from the Rails 19 – Let the Music Play (as seen here)

All Aboard: "Music hath charms to soothe a savage beast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." William Congreve

Tickets Please: In yet another glimpse into the world of the CFL footballer, I’d like to share with you some thoughts about the music that is listened to in the locker-room before a game. If you watch The Office regularly, you will have seen the episode in which Dwight and Jim go on a sales call together. Dwight insists on being left alone for a few minutes in Jim’s car. Dwight plays a rock anthem on the car’s stereo to get psyched-up for the sales call. This is a good image of a football team listening to music before a game. They are using the music as a tool to prepare for the game. I am no expert on music, but as far as I can see there are 3 criteria that football players look for when choosing pre-game music: type of music, lyrics, and the nostalgia factor.

As mentioned, I am no expert on music. I cannot define or even describe in any detail the different notes, scales, melodies, sounds, beats, rhythms, or harmonies that constitute a powerfully motivating song. But I do know that you rarely hear any folk, gospel, classical, jazz or soft rock songs before a game. From Air Supply to Zamfir, the easy-listening music does not get much air time. But harder and heavier music, from AC/DC to Zeppelin, gets the nod. Rap and rock get the lion’s share when it comes to what gets played in the dressing room. I think most of us would agree that the bolder, brasher music is more likely to get one amped up for competition. Now I remember back a few years when Clifford Ivory used to listen to gospel music before a contest. I also remember how he used to drive Sandy Annunziata crazy by belting out the lyrics for the whole team to hear. But for the most part, whether it is golden boy Michael Phelps listening to rap music before another record-breaking performance or the Toronto Argonauts listening to heavy metal before taking to the gridiron, music with loud beats or lots of base gets preferred.

Lyrics can also make a song acceptable to get the troops motivated. It seems that lyrics which encourage urgency and success are often used to help motivate. Consider the lyrics to Van Halen’s song Right Now:

Right now, hey
it’s your tomorrow
Right now,
C'mon, it's everything
Right now,
Catch a magic moment, do it
Right here and now
It means everything.

The emphasis it places on the moment can be used by athletes to think about the urgency of playing well. Or take a look at Eminem’s words in his rap Lose Yourself:

Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted – One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime

And if you can’t feel, see, and hear the lyrical superiority of Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger over Kim Carnes’ Bette Davis Eyes then there is no amount of explaining that I can do that will help you. Lyrics that motivate will get a song some time on a locker-room iPod.

The final criterion for acceptable game day music is probably the most powerful of the three: nostalgia. Songs that remind us of the past are particularly popular, especially songs that we listened to while preparing for competitions when we were younger. Play a classic rock song by Guns N’ Roses or Aerosmith and Chris “Hard Rock” Hardy will find you and tell you how he used to listen to this song while preparing for high school hockey games. Memories of teams and games from the past often have a very stimulating psychological effect. It makes you want to “get after it”! For me, classic rock has this influence. I can remember sitting in the hockey dressing room before big games with Tom Cochrane and Red Ryder’s Lunatic Fringe playing. And when I hear that song it makes me forget the aches and pains of 18 years of football and for a brief moment I feel like I’m 15 again. Powerful stuff!

The triumvirate of music-type, lyrics, and nostalgic-effect are the keys to discerning what music will be played in a locker-room before the players take the field. If you can find a song that meets all 3 criteria, you’ll definitely have a song that guys want to hear. It seems to me that the most popular pre-game song is Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight. It combines a haunting musical score with lyrics that point towards the urgency and electricity that is in a locker-room:

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord 
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
I've been waiting for this moment all my life, oh Lord, oh Lord
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment all my life, oh Lord, oh Lord
I can feel it coming in the air, I can feel it coming in the air I've been waiting for this moment all my life, my life.

Last Stop: Three songs with which Offensive Lineman can relate to:

1) Much Too Young by Garth Brooks

And the white line's getting longer and the saddle's getting cold
I'm much too young to feel this damn old
All my cards are on the table with no ace left in the hole
I'm much too young to feel this damn old

2) Baba O’Reilly by The Who

Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living

3) Sundown by Gordon Lightfoot

Sometimes I think it's a shame
When I get feelin' better when I'm feelin' no pain