The sports poem has been an unofficial tradition of the NYC poetry scene since I began attending literary events some 30 years ago. I’ve sat through countless poetry readings over the years, and always loved how sports poems offered solace from the usual subjects of love, death and self reflection. Always by dudes, and almost always about baseball, the poems are as thrilling as the games that inspired them
Though mesmerized as an audience member, I never thought to write one. That is, until a few weeks ago, when the NY/NJ Gotham FC women’s soccer club made it to the national finals. This song focuses defender Ali Krieger, the captain of the team. Under her guidance, and during her year of retirement, they went on to win the championship!
As a former “fullback” and goalie, I can attest that sometimes the back line players are the unsung heroes of the game. The unsung deserve a song.
I want to thank my poet friends David Kirschenbaum and Tony Rubin for their inspiration in the sports poem arena as well as the athletes of Gotham FC for an incredible season! The musical influence is more obvious. I donned black concert tee shirts as a kid growing up in the Long Island suburbs, with bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa silk screened across the front. One weekend, my family visited my extended Brooklyn family. I brought In Through The Out Door, my seventh grade addiction, to play for my cousin. Unimpressed, Ingrid dropped the needle on her freshly released Sugar Hill Gang vinyl and the fabric of my very soul evolved. Rapper’s Delight turned my world upside down.
As for the production, I’m getting more comfortable working with loops, samples & beats. This might be my first song where I didn’t actually play guitar or bass. Well, I lied, I played the guitar but didn’t record it. I had to plunk out notes to create synth melody lines because my brain doesn’t think in “piano”. Kudos to my wife for her vocal coaching.
Back in 2020 I learned as I went when I recorded my solo album (*). My gosh, when I started, I didn’t even know how to visually zoom in and out on the tracks. It’s so fun to slide my hands around the computer keyboard now. It’s almost like playing a new instrument. As quick as I’ve become with the tech side of recording, I’m now tackling the next hurdle.
Mixing comprises this new frontier. What an entire other art form that is! I had great fun learning about how to mix vocals with this project. I used to think mixing meant adjusting the relative volume levels of all the tracks. Hahahahaha, this strikes me as naively funny now that I’m learning about EQ’s, pre-reverb, gain, manual compression and manual de-essing in addition to the usual effects. I’m ready to up my vocal post production game!
I released it to streaming services today, but it will take a week or so to propagate on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. You can hear it in its entirety here above.
Harrison to Wembly she makes opponents tremble
Their tactics disassemble
You eye the net
That goal is yours
Your cleat strikes the pleather and the football soars
Yeah it flies like a bullet, but only in your mind
In no time, Allie sends it past the midfield line
Extinguishing your flare
You throw your hands up in despair
Instead of fist pump
Your swagger drops into a slump
Don’t be fooled by her smile & charismatic glow
When she guards the 18 yard box, the goalie & the goal
She’s diabolical, not so nice
She’s faster than you and more precise
She reacts before you even move
Telepathic to what you think you’ll do
There’s only one champion, while your eyes drip
She holds her medal to her lips
Your pain is real, how you wish it was you
But only one team’s dreams ever come true