The prompt from Jim:
Our theme this week is songs that mention, reference, or talk about sports.
When I saw the prompt for this coming Sunday I thought this might be a week I would skip. I could not think of any sports related songs. Then magically, this chorus started running through my head overnight.
I love and am proud of my country roots. This song exemplifies that idea of being happy where you were planted. I, too, miss the small towns that have changed or disappeared over the years.
”The Cheap Seats” was written by Marcus Hummon and Randy Sharp and recorded by country group Alabama in 1994. The song peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles and Tracks chart.
’Cheap seats’ or the ‘nosebleed section’ refer to the cheaper seats in a venue and are often far away from the action or perhaps with a blocked view.
I always loved the stories my dad told about the neighborhood baseball teams they had when he was growing up. Of course they never amounted to any status or rating, but they were games that everyone came out to see. I even found this 1939 newspaper clipping to attest to their popularity.
According to Randy Sharp, the way he and co-writer Marcus Hummon came up with the song was much like this. From Songfacts.com:
Never one to pass up a comic opportunity with his music, songwriter Randy Sharp says this one came about the very first time he co-wrote with Marcus Hummon. Because, says Randy, “Marcus IS that guy.”
During the course of polite diplomacies the morning the two met, Randy discovered Marcus was a diehard fan of the Nashville Sounds, their Triple A baseball club. Marcus, he says, “talked about going out there sometimes alone, being the only guy out there cheering, because he was such a fan. So we were laughing about the visual of this: two guys out there doing the wave by themselves, and yelling at the umpire. And the visual is so funny we just started jotting this stuff down. And the concept of the cheap seats – we weren’t the first ones to come up with that – but it put our characters, these guys that never missed a game, in an appropriate kind of every-guy role, in those seats. And the fact that there’s a bunch of people that are so supportive of the local boys that even if it’s just a tie, they’ll act like it was a win, and they’ll go buy them pizza and beer.” It’s a real place and a real attitude out there, and when Marcus chimed in with his insight the writing just took off, and they were able to write it in one sitting. “Which is rare for me,” confesses Randy. “It usually takes me several get-togethers to finish a song.”
“The Cheap Seats”, by Alabama
Lyrics from songfacts.com
This town ain’t big, this town ain’t small
It’s a little of both they say
Our ball club may be minor league but at least it’s triple A
We sit below the Marlboro man, above the right field wall
We do the wave all by ourself
Hey ump, a blind man could’ve made that call
We like our beer flat as can be
We like our dogs with mustard and relish
We got a great pitcher what’s his name
Well we can’t even spell it
We don’t worry about the pennant much
We just like to see the boys hit it deep
There’s nothing like the view from the cheap seats
The game was close, we’ll call it a win
Go off to toast the boys again
That local band is back in town
They got a kinda minor league sound
They’re not that bad, they’re not that good
But all in all it’s understood
We wanna dance, they wanna play
We wouldn’t have it any other way
We like our beer flat as can be
We like our dogs with mustard and relish
We got a great pitcher what’s his name
Well we can’t even spell it
We don’t worry about the pennant much
We just like to see the boys hit it deep
There’s nothing like the view from the cheap seats
Cheap seats
Now the majors called up ol’ what’s his name
And one more buildin’ rises tall
And suddenly we’re all grown up
And this old town not quite so small
But I’ll always miss the middle size town
In the middle of the middle-west
With no name pitchers and local bands
And mustard and relish and all the rest
We like our beer flat as can be
We like our dogs with mustard and relish
We got a great pitcher what’s his name
Well we can’t even spell it
We don’t worry about the pennant much
We just like to see the boys hit it deep
There’s nothing like the view from the cheap seats
Cheap seats
Song Lyric Sunday is hosted every Sunday by Jim Adams. If you would like to join in the fun, check out his blog for the rules and to take in all the other music posted by other bloggers.
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