Talking Baseball Every Week

"GLEEMAN AND THE GEEK" THEME -- John Bonnes

I've posted about theme songs for television ("Justified") and film ("We'll Never Have Paris"), but never for a podcast.  Until now.

Gleeman and the Geek are not the next Sonny & Cher or Hall & Oates or DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince.  They are not musicians at all.  John Bonnes and Aaron Gleeman, among the first bloggers to cover the Minnesota Twins baseball team, are the voices behind a very popular Twins podcast.  

I'm not a big believer in the importance of "chemistry" in the clubhouse, but it's everything in a podcast.  And GATG have more chemistry than anyone this side of Walter White.  Whether recoring at KFAN studios or at a local tap room, they bring insight and humor in equal measure.

YMMV.  But City Pages agreed with me when they did their "Best Of" issue last year.

Check out their podcast if only to listen to the theme song before John answers seven questions about it below: Gleeman And The Geek Podcast

As any good theme song should do, the GATG theme sets the right tone every week at the top of the podcast.  It's catchy, to the point and lively; the guitar and vocals are fun; and the drums during the outro are the perfect lead-in to John's signature "...aaaaaaand welcome!"  Starting without this sequence would be like beginning a ball game without "...and the home of the brave - play ball!"


John Bonnes

1 - Why did you want to have a theme song for the podcast?

 

John Bonnes:  For the first couple, we didn't, I don't think. But when listening to a podcast it really helps to have some music at the beginning, so we put out a plea and it was answered.

 

2 - Who wrote and performed the GATG theme?

 

JB:  The original was by James Richter. It was super simple and we used it over and over, and you can still hear the gist of it at the end of our podcast, because he did a "footer" sound bit for it, too.

James Richter - Not how I imagined him based on his singing

And then, a few months in, another band, Jerry Rodes, did one. So we went back and forth between them for them for a long time. At some point, we needed to pick one for KFAN, and we went with the Jerry Rodes one, and so then we stuck with that one during the offseason, too.

 

 

3 - How long did you have to practice to perfect your Angela Lansbury voice for your (excellent) reworking of "Beauty and the Beast"?

 

JB:  :-) I was actually going to have my kid sing it, but she sounded too good, and I wanted it to sound kinda stupid, so I recorded it as over-the-top as I could.  Not too many people know about that song, I don't think.  I don't think we've played it on the podcast more than once or twice.  Aaron hates it.

 

4 - Do I recall correctly that (besides the two versions we've discussed) there was at least one other alternate version?

 

JB:  This question made me look some up. 

I think the alternate version that you're talking about might be the original version by Richter.  Long time listeners will recognize it for sure.

But there also was another alternate "sexy" version which we only played a couple of times.  I've tried to find who created it, but I can't find any record of it.  I still do have the clip of it.

There is also a 2nd version that James Richter also did in a completely different style - the secret "John Mayer" version.

 

"Gleeman and the Geek" recording a podcast

5 - Didn't Gleeman have some teenage girl in New Zealand working on a new theme song (and I assume she wasn't Lorde)?

 

JB:  Yeah.  I'm kind of forgetting the details.  I think she did send something. But she didn't really know anything about baseball and so some of the words sounded like a foreigner trying to use baseball slang, so I think Aaron asked for a couple of changes and then we never heard back.  But I could be making a lot of that up.

 

6 - Was there any thought about calling yourselves "The Geek and Gleeman"?

 

JB:  No.  Gleeman and the Geek flows a lot better.  We sometimes joke about that.

 

7 - What is your favorite podcast theme song, aside from your own?

 

JB:  I don't listen to a ton of podcasts. My favorite custom one is a groovy one for the Talk to Contact. "Twin brothers talking Twins baseball....."

 

I also LOVED the song "Panama" by Van Halen in my youth, so I love it when The Sportive uses that to kick off their show.  And No Juice has that great instrumental that was used for some sports show in my youth.  I think that is a great beginning.

 

********

You can find GATG on Twitter: @twinsgeek @aarongleeman @gleemanandgeek

John manages and sometimes writes for twinsdaily.com, a popular site he co-founded in 2012.

She Hadn't Even Begun To Sully

BILLIONS OF EYES - Lady Lamb

Songs are like people.  Some you just never take a shine to.  Some grow on you over time.  Some infatuate initially before fading quickly as you tire of the very thing that attracted you in the first place.

And then there is true love at first sight... or first listen.  You immediately know it's a great match and as time passes the bond only grows deeper and deeper.

"Billions of Eyes" was love at first stream for me.  If you haven't heard the song yet, take a listen:

I don't want to oversell. I'm not claiming BofE is a genre-defining song that will go down in history with "She Loves You" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit."  But it's a very good recording that really resonates with me, for whatever reason.  Lady Lamb's voice, the sound of her guitar, the energy, the lyrics that flow like a stream of consciousness yet reveal themselves to be anything but random.

Take this little snippet:

I could tell the story of howMy great grandmothers' sister was deemed a saint
how they exhumed her body after years of being buried
and they found she hadn't even begun to sully
so they moved her again, straight into the Vatican 

Initially, I assumed LL was just spinning a colorful yarn... but it turns out it's a true story.

I first heard BofE on a recent music sampler from Landmark Theatres.  There are other good songs on the sampler, but Lady Lamb's track grabbed me by the ears and made me listen to it over and over. 

Who is Lady Lamb? She's otherwise known as Aly Spaltro, a singer/songwriter/musician from Maine who is now based out of Brooklyn.  Initially known as Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, she wrote and recorded songs after hours at the video store where she worked, self-releasing her music from 2007-2012. 

Ba Da Bing Records released her album "Ripely Pine" in 2013.  And earlier this year, Mom and Pop Music released "Always," which includes BofE.  Lady Lamb is on tour now, but she took time out to answer a few questions (below).

Lady Lamb's website

@ladylambjams

instagram.com/ladylambjams/

facebook.com/ladylambjams

1 - Which came first, the words or the music - or did they evolve together as you wrote "Billions of Eyes"?

Lady Lamb: The words came first, with the drum beat to follow. 

2 - The mesmerizing official video for BofE says "Made by Aly Spaltro."  What was it like to come up with the concept, gather the home movies and other materials that you used, and put it all together? 

LL: I decided to make the lyric video with only two days before the song was coming out, so it was a bit of a whirlwind. My dad had just started digitizing old home videos from the early 90s so it was perfect timing that I was able to incorporate those into the video. I had also been collecting cutouts from my own magazine collection, and was able to incorporate some cutouts mailed in to me by fans. I love to edit and make movies, so it was a really fun project, and busy weekend!

3 - How did you -- and this song in particular -- end up being chosen by Landmark Theaters for their recent free music sampler?

LL: Honestly, I’m not sure exactly why it was chosen, but I’m certainly glad it was!

4 - The song refers to the small joy of barely making it aboard a train in time.  Do you have any memorable close calls, good or bad, when it comes to making a train?

LL: Living in NY, this happens to me all the time, maybe 1 in 5 times I board the subway. The close calls always bring about a small, nice acknowledgement by strangers and I love that.

5 - How did you create the jangly guitar tone used on this record?

 LL: The majority of the guitars in the final version of the song were recorded in my bedroom using a Fender Jazzmaster and some mild effects of reverb and treble.

6 - BofE's lyrics have a poetic quality and could be described as impressionistic. Are you ever surprised at people's interpretations of the song or any of its lyrics?

 LL: Most people I talk to really connect to the line about just wanting to fall into a pile of warm laundry when they are tired or frustrated. I really appreciate how many people get that line and agree!

7 - You're on tour now.  When we hear BofE live do you think you'll tend to stick fairly close to the recorded version?

 LL: We stick pretty close to my recorded version, but the song is full of energy and we bring that live.

 

SHOUT A HIP-HOORAY

We're Going to Win, Twins - Mary Jane Alm

If you grew up in the Upper Midwest, these words should be familiar:

We're gonna win, Twins
We're gonna score
We're gonna win, Twins
Watch that baseball soar.
Crack out a home run
Shout a hip-hooray
Cheer for the Minnesota Twins today.
 
This song has been around since the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Twins in 1961.  It's played when the team takes the field for home games.  It was (and maybe still is) used to kick off radio coverage of Twins games.

The song was initially intended not for the baseball team but for one of its sponsors, Hamm's Beer:

Sing out for Hamm's beer,
Sing out the name,
Sing out for Hamm's beer,
Of sky blue waters fame
 
I can't determine if that version ever aired.  I'm assuming not, since the Campbell Mithun advertising agency sold the tune to the Twins for a dollar.  Ray Charles (not the one you're thinking of) revised the words to the tune Dick Wilson had composed.  The Ray Charles Singers (not the Raelettes) sang the fight song and it blasted from AM radios every summer for the next few decades.
 
Side note: Hamm's didn't need the tune, since it already had a very catchy "From the Land of Sky Blue Waters" song that was featured for many years in popular commercials like this one:
 



The Twins have updated the theme song a couple of times.  The best known version, the one played as players take the field, is sung by two men and two women, and I didn't realize until recently that one of those voices belonged to Mary Jane Alm.  She was and is one of Minnesota's best known and beloved vocalists.  The Mary Jane Alm Band and its leader never broke out nationally, but regional fame eventually led to Alm's induction to the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame in 2013.




maryjanealm.com

I was able to catch up with Mary Jane Alm and quiz her about her experience as a vocalist on "We're Gonna Win Twins." 

1 - Are you even a baseball/Twins fan?

 

Mary Jane Alm:  I am a longtime Minnesota Twins fan.  I grew up in southern Minnesota and my dad took my brothers and I to the big city to see the Twins many times growing up.  We started going to games when the Twins played at Met Stadium.

 

 

2 - How did you get the gig singing on "We're Going to Win, Twins"?

 

MJA:  I was one of the first call session singers back in the '80s and '90s along with the other singers on this song, Kathy Mueller, Scott (Scooter) Nelson and Steve McLoone.  We got hired for all the biggest radio and television spots that were produced in the Twin Cities...  And this was one of them. 



Scott "Scooter" Nelson of the Mary Jane Alm Band


3 - The Twin's bought the song for $1.  I'm hoping you got more.  Not to pry into your finances, but was it a flat fee or do you get residuals... or free entry to Twins games... or anything?

 

MJA:  I can't quite remember how much money I made but I do know that it was a flat fee...  No residuals, no free baseball games or Twins memorabilia.

 

4 - Have you ever sung the song since the recording?

 

MJA:  The four of us got to sing the Twins song and the National Anthem at a baseball game following the release of the song.  We did get great seats to see the game that day and got to meet some of the players.

 

5 - Did you help with the musical or vocal arrangement or were you hired strictly to sing your part?

 

MJA:  We were hired strictly as singers... We had nothing to do with the writing or arranging.

 

6 - How familiar were you with the original, 1961 version of the song?

 

MJA:  I was very familiar with the original theme song.  Everyone who grew up in Minnesota knew the song by heart!!

 

 

7 - You actually have twin sons, right?  Was that karma?

 

MJA:  I do have twin sons.  They just turned 20 and are both completely awesome!!  Karma?  Maybe... wouldn't it be great if they did another remake and my musician son played on it??

 

Thanks, Mary Jane.  Let's end this post with one more version of the Twins theme song, this time from another Minnesota musical institution, the Hall Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band: