Song Titles with an NFL Team in Them

As I watch the hometown lowly Bengals play Sunday after Sunday, I find it hard to focus on the game. They pretty much run three plays then punt. Once in a while they will fumble or throw an interception just to give the punter a rest, and a few times this year they even kicked a field goal.

They were losing to the Carolina Panthers a few weeks ago, losing as usual. My mind drifted from the game to an idea of a new marketing campaign for the Carolina team. One Sunday each year they could wear pink jerseys and refer to themselves as the Pink Panthers. During timeouts and the inevitable referee huddles they could play the "Pink Panther Theme," and they could probably sell pink beer.

That idea kept me busy throughout the first half. Then I began to think of other popular songs that mentioned NFL team names in their titles. Here is the list I came up with.

10. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by The Tokens: I had to include this song, though the inane chorus can become annoying after several minutes. Detroit is usually the only team that can make the Bengals look good.

9. "Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" by Waylon Jennings: I love the song. I despise the team.

8. "Fly Like an Eagle" by The Steve Miller Band: This is the title track of a Miller's first huge album. It has a soaring melody, backing lyrics about the freedom of flying away from the injustices in our society.

7. "Jet" by Paul McCartney and Wings: I haven't been a fan of the Jets since Broadway Joe Namath took snaps for them. I have always loved the energetic song from the Band on the Run album.

6. "Bronco Bill's Lament" by Don McLean: This is McLean's sympathetic narrative of an old time cowboy who wants to relive his glory days. It's also the only song I could think of that mentions two NFL teams in its title.

5. "Raven in the Storm" by John Gorka: This song is frightening to listen to, much like "Edgar Allan Poe's poem for which Baltimore's team was named. Gorka fills the song with imagery such as "I'm the spot beneath the skin, I'm the scarlett on the pavement" and I'm the scratching in the ceiling." Perhaps the most frightening image, though, is in this line: "I'm the ghost of a traveling salesman, My foot will be there in your door."

4. "Cache Cache (No Bears in There)" by The Who: The lyrics describe several uncomfortable situations (spending the night alone in someone's barn, sleeping in a bear pit) to persuade someone that things are never as bad after you confront them.

3."Song of the Viking" by Todd Rundgren: The "Runt" does his best Viking imitation on the vocals in this song fom Something?Anything? The backing vocals allow you to envision a crew of Norsemen on one of their ships passing liquor and meat back and forth.

2."Saint Simon" by The Shins: The song opens with probably the most difficult opening to sing: "After all these implements and text designed by intellects, So vexed to find evidently there's just so much that hides." Somehow James Russell Mercer pulls it off with flair, as he does on most of the songs on Chutes Too narrow.

1. "Ballad of Alferd Packer" by Phil Ochs: This is a morbid but true tale of a tour guide who turned cannibal after a snow storm trapped him and his clients. Ochs, though, tells it with a witty tone. He includes the remark made by the judge while sentencing Packer: "This county had six democrats until he did arrive, But only one lives on today, He ate the other five."