Please recommend good songs for a kids baseball video.

May 2, 2009 7:26 AM

For each Little League season, my wife makes a video for the team. Depending on the amount of footage she has, she'll make one video of defensive plays and one for offense. Our problem is that we are running out of songs. Can you suggest songs appropriate for a team of 8 year old ball players?

The song doesn't have to be baseball oriented, but it should be upbeat, and not overtly sexual. Cussing beyond "damn" or "hell" is right out. A recent song that the boys would know is a bonus, but it's more about the feel of the song than the vintage.

Some songs that she has used in the past are:
Centerfield -- John Fogarty
Pump It Up -- Elvis Costello
Already Gone -- Eagles
Let's See How Far We've Come -- Matchbox 20
Unbelievable -- EMF
Walk of Life -- Dire Straits
Roll to me -- Del Amitri
Freeze Frame -- J. Geils Band
All Star -- Smash Mouth

I've suggested "Beat On the Brat" for several seasons, but, for some reason, she has demurred.

posted by donpardo to media & arts (11 comments total)

By using these songs you know you can never get this videos up on youtube?

How about "We Are The Champions" (Queen) or the recent fad "Seven Nation Army"(White Stripes)?
posted by caddis at 7:33 AM on May 2

I dealt with this question for a similar reason. The great brainwave was to use songs from recent baseball videogames (XBox360, PS3 etc.) since even when it "makes no sense" to us, they're already engrained into kids' brains as "baseball songs" by the marketing and gameplay. They also get played at MLB stadiums for the same reason.

So with that in mind, I'd pick some of the family-safe and hookier ones from below, and you'll be soooooo cool.

MLB 2009 The Show (PS3) soundtrack:
* "Two Ways Out" by Darker My Love
* "Wannabe in L.A." by Eagles of Death Metal
* "Work, Work, Work" by Hockey
* "Never Miss a Beat" by Kaiser Chiefs
* "El Barrio Boricua" by Ming
* "Shine On Me" by Night Horse
* "Collapse (Post-Amerika)" by Rise Against
* "Don't You Evah" by Spoon
* "Man Up" by The Blue Van
* "Budos Rising" by The Budos Band
* "Everything You're Breathing For" by The Parlor Mob
* "Rooibos" by The Stills
* "Golden Age" by TV on the Radio
* "Safe to Say" by Valencia
* "M. Mambo" by Zodiac Death Valley

MLB 2K9 (PS3/XBox360) soundtrack:
* Ted Nugent - Motor City Madhouse
* Judas Priest - You Got Another Thing Coming
* Cheap Trick - Hello There
* The Romantics - What I Like About You
* Boys Like Girls - On Top of the World
* Coheed & Cambria - Favor House Atlantic
* Europe - The Final Countdown
* Hey Monday - Should've Tried Harder
* Lit - Lipstick and Bruises
* SR-71 - Right Now
* Loverboy - The Kid is Hot Tonight
* Nortec Collective - Tengo La Voz
* Chris Sernel - Take It or Leave It
* Daniel Lenz - Groovin' Now
* Dirty Secrets - White Lies
* Royal Temple - Block Party

The 2008 versions of the same games also had some good songs like Dropkick Murphies and Ramones (yes really). I leave you to Google for that. :)
posted by rokusan at 7:33 AM on May 2 [1 favorite]

Mortal Kombat Theme
Eye of the Tiger
You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
Glory Days

Or have you considered the Jock Jams series? They're a little dated, but they're full of sports-appropriate music. I may be wrong on this, but the albums themselves may be already edited for lyrics.
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 7:34 AM on May 2

Rock and Roll Part 2 - Gary Glitter
Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
posted by contrariwise at 7:55 AM on May 2

caddis: Youtube's not a problem, but thanks for the caution.

rokusan: Thanks for the suggestions. The Kaiser Chiefs are an excellent candidate. Upbeat and catchy works very well.

juiceboxhero: We'll look at the Jock Jams series.
posted by donpardo at 8:33 AM on May 2

It's all boys? My brothers team always used to use Thin Lizzy's "The boys are back in town." It seemed to fit pretty well.
posted by cgg at 9:05 AM on May 2

Jump - Van Halen

Walk This Way - Aerosmith (or Run DMC)

Cheap Seats - Alabama (about minor league baseball fans, has a cool summertime feel, but does mention beer, although not in a real get-drunk-and-stupid way)

Terri Clark recorded a song called "I Wanna Do It All." The original lyrics mention "the Yankees" (without saying New York), but she recorded several different versions mentioning other major league teams, eg. "The Cubbies". If your team has one of those names, that would be an awesome lyric to use. And it's a cool upbeat song too, even without the baseball mention.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 9:16 AM on May 2

Had a thought, and searched Country Music TV's site for "baseball". I think they pull lyrics results from other sources as well as their own db, so some (many) of these songs may not be country, which may be what you want anyway(?).
posted by SuperSquirrel at 9:24 AM on May 2

I always seem to hear "Boom" by P.O.D. for sports-related video clips. I could see it being used in a succession of at-bats. Lyrics in the link.

"Ten Thousand Fists" by Disturbed was used in a Madden football game. Might still be applicable to baseball.

I heard "Blow Me Away" by Breaking Benjamin, used in another baseball video a while back. Can't remember which one, unfortunately.

And to follow along with rokusan's suggestion, 2K's "The Bigs" (Wii) has its own list of songs used in the game.

Do you plan on using the entire song from start to finish, or are you able to use snippets? Having a particular refrain, riff, or verse instead of the whole thing might help associate the feel or energy of the song with the video shown.
posted by CancerMan at 11:53 AM on May 2

The Best Around. Karate Kid.
posted by Wayman Tisdale at 1:59 PM on May 2

cancerman: She uses the entire song.
posted by donpardo at 6:42 AM on May 3