It’s “come-together
time”, folks. Grab your neighbor, your forgotten uncle, and everyone else
in earshot. Something has come to our attention and it must be crest inTO the
Rock!
Our beloved Hawks are perched
upon the precipice. We are mighty and prepared. Angled to engage the wind and
swoop upon our prey. We only require our song of war. Our weekly threshold to
shatter upon the field of battle. We require the proper declaration. One that
mirrors the way we feel: liberated, engaged, determined, and expectant all at
once. A song that gathers the flock, resolute, to swarm upon any foe. For the
Seattle Seahawks, there can only be ONE song:
The Immigrant Song. By the
Gods of the Almighty Thunder and Splintering Earth – Led Zeppelin.
Many NFL teams have a trademark
battle tune. The theme they play upon entry. Or the spark of a tune that ignites
the crowd when it is time for resolution. Goal line prep at the Hawks Nest.
The 3rd quarter split. That final drive…
A song for the nation to
know us by.
And a song for the heartbeat of each and every Hawk.
You’ll have to forgive
me for my obtuse drama and gothic prose. But I’ve just paid a visit to
the School Of Rock. (No really. Rent it today!) And it’s got me all inspired.
Uncaged. Almighty and unstoppable. Capable of enormous poetic alliterations.
A shotgun of immediacy and declaration… I’m suddenly certain it
only takes a match to set the fire. And if Mister Black doesn’t Jack you
up to get on your horse and bring it on home – you must not own a heartbeat.
But let us calm things down
now…sit at the table and let me explain my motivations. We will have wine
and bread. There will be scantily clad women in Arabian garments to relax our
earnestness (or maybe that works against us? No matter), and we will discuss
amongst ourselves this urgency in a calculated, rational manner.
We need a stadium song.
And there can be only one.
Listen to it now as Seahawk
Blue takes the field…
DUNGdunga Dana…
DaDUNGdugu Danaw
DaDUNGdugu Danaw… DaDUNGdugu Danaw…
aaaAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAA!!…
aaaAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAA!!…
BLARRN!! BLUHNNNNNgggnnnnnnnn!!!
We come from the land
of the ice and snow,
From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow
The hammer of the gods
will drive our ships to new lands,
to fight the horde, singing and crying…
BLARRN!! BLUHNNNNNgggnnnnnnnn!!!
Valhalla… I am
coming!
On we sweep, with threshing
oar, Our only goal will be the western (Eastern) shore.
Is there anything more appropriate and powerful?
Is there anyone who does not find that compelling and intimidating?
Is there anyone who does not think this would accurately mark our team?
Is there anyone who does not feel the release from our past burdens and the
need to engage when met with that song? (Ok, I’ll concede it would be
better if it embellished birds, rather than boats. But it’s still mighty
rockin’, mate!!).
Is there anyone who does not believe this message would breed throughout the
athletes themselves as a note of pride, validation, and absolute belief in their
destiny? And our Family?
Is there anyone who does not feel success from that song?
I think not.
This is the land of Jimi
Hendrix. We ARE the hammer of the Gods. It’s buried right here, baby!
And is there anything you
would rather hear when the 2004 Seattle Seahawks storm out onto the field for
this year’s NFC Championship? (Anyone who says “No, how ‘bout
Good Charlotte!” is now officially denied season tickets).
The only team that could
possibly better personify this song than us, by term, is the Vikings. But they
play in a dome. Sorry, last time I checked there ain’t no ice and snow
in a dome. We play in the elements now. It rains here, constantly. And we’re
on the coastline. We are the fog. Gimme the song!!!
Now, I can’t take
credit for this idea. It was broached when Zeppelin officially won the quite
intricate and evolved Favorite Seahawk Band Ever poll on the old .NET threads
this off-season. The interesting thing about that was the emphatic support for
that identity once that song was introduced. The response was like cement on
a brick, “That will stay right there, sir. Yes, indeed. Can we have another
brick as well then?”. Mark it down like cement, people.
Wait, I can hear you…
“Yes, I understand. Neat song. That would be fun. If only we thought we
were important enough to manufacture such a decision.” Riiiiiiiiiight.
If only. If only there were more Jack Blacks.
See, ol’ Jack Black
had a situation when they were filming “School of Rock”. They wanted
that very song. And in Hollyworld, you pay top dollar for song rights. Led Zeppelin?
They don’t hand it out for less than a Jack Sparrow mountain of Gold.
And Zeppelin loves to refuse. But Mr. Black Attack gave instead an impassioned
plea – to the masters of song. He gave them Rum instead. He gave them
film of a crowd full of people calling to the legends of molten chord, and a
certain Jack Black… “Without your song, this film will crumble”.
(It happens to be a very good movie that can live on the soul of JB, but that’s
not the point here). And guess what? The historically isolated Led churning
Zeppelin – delivered the song.
Now, we don’t need
to buy the song from LZ (it’s free in our situation). We just need to
convince the Seahawk brass that THIS is the song we must hear from the tunnel.
This is the song they need to know we need. And they’re not as far away
as you think, yes. We must gather them among us!
So I’m thinking we
have the numbers here. And what I’m asking is that we band together to
get this song in the stands. That doesn’t mean bring all your portable
CD players and yell real loud. It means write the people who make these decisions.
Cart your name down on a petition (which I’m trying to force here at Seahawks
Fan HQ) and let’s get this thing bird-mail to Seahawks Management.
If that doesn’t work?
Go ahead and BRING your loudest CD player. And some flyer that we’ve created
here at Fan Support (or will create if anyone actually gets excited by my impassioned
petition) to spread amongst the true birds at the stadium. People pay attention
to that. “Raise your goblet of rock!”. If that doesn’t work
we can try and get Seahawk Stadium’s DJ all good and liquored up, slip
him some certainty, eh? Once that crowd hears the ‘mistake’? That
song is a lock, my friends. Welcome to the Jungle? Sorry, we got that beat.
Are you ready to lay claim
to what we command?
Send the message… and it shall be heard:
So now you’d better
STOP
and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day
Despite of all your losing.
Make it so.
Valhalla, I am coming…
G. Scott Jones is a regular contributor to Seahawks.NET. Feel free to send
feedback to him at schleprockhawk@sbcglobal.net.