New Ravens Fight Song?

[Losac]

Baltimoreravens.com has a poll up asking fans if the team should adopt a new fight song, which is the old Colts fight song with slightly changed Ravens-centric lyrics. Right now about 75% are in favor of it.

It sounds like the team is leery about doing this out of respect for the old Baltimore Colts. I know many on the board have strong opinions about the old Colts fight song and the "new" fight song never really caught on.

I think it would be kind of cool to have a "sing along" type song all the fans knew kind of like the Deadskins and Eagles have.

Well, here's the link, so go vote!

http://blogs.baltimoreravens.com/2010/08/05/vote-on-the-ravens-fight-song/

[HoustonRaven]

I like the old song and like the idea of using it to make a new song.

Only a matter of time until our resident band hating nuisance to speak up though.

[btownraven]

I love the old song and, while I understood the reason it wasn't, I wish it had been adapted to the Ravens. I felt even stronger after seeing "The Band that Wouldn't Die." That song is as much about the pride of Baltimore as it was the old Colts.

"Ravenize it" and bring it back!

[RavenScallywag]

I posted this on Facebook and suprisingly, did get one person against using it, although not for the reason you'd think...

Guy said it's making it seem to much like we're trying to "Copy the Colts", and they should really just write a new fight song that's better. "The Colts are the PAST", he says.

So, unfriend him? :respect

But seriously, I know on twitter, Jamison Hensley said he's actually gotten a lot of negative responses to the idea too. I think the majority of people will vote to use the old fight song with new lyrics, but this could be hot button on a couple different angles.

[Flipping Birdie]

There's just something bitter about it that seems to imply that we'd be happier if we still had the old Colts. I understand that that isn't exactly what it's about, but that's the way it'll be perceived.

I say bleh. The old chapters are closed, let's celibate the new era and not live in the past.

[RavenScallywag]

See, I don't see it as bitter...especially when you consider "The Band Who Wouldn't Die"...The Marching Colts/Ravens and that fight song were big pieces to bringing us football again, especially when you consider the band playing on the State House steps and how that seemed to be the turning point for getting the funding to build M&T Bank Stadium.

Using the old fight song is a way to "bridge" the Baltimore NFL football history. I think the underlying theme is the current fight song was something kind've thrown together by Art Modell and is not really "accepted" by the Ravens.

[HoustonRaven]

See, I don't see it as bitter...especially when you consider "The Band Who Wouldn't Die"...The Marching Colts/Ravens and that fight song were big pieces to bringing us football again, especially when you consider the band playing on the State House steps and how that seemed to be the turning point for getting the funding to build M&T Bank Stadium.

Using the old fight song is a way to "bridge" the Baltimore NFL football history. I think the underlying theme is the current fight song was something kind've thrown together by Art Modell and is not really "accepted" by the Ravens.

Well said. +1

[Ravcolt]

Its all about the music. The Colts song is as indelibly stamped in Baltimore's culture as steamed crabs. Change the name from Colts to Birds and leave everything else the same. Guaranteed that after a few games virtually everyone will be in their seats sooner. Should have happened in 1996.

[Mista T]

76% to 24% as of 9 pm = a fuckin' landslide brewing! :ref:

Question: who in their right mind would not vote for the original fight song tune (modernized to encompass the Ravens), which is a huge part of our NFL heritage?

:beer: :greece :T2:

[myfavoriteboxer]

There's just something bitter about it that seems to imply that we'd be happier if we still had the old Colts. I understand that that isn't exactly what it's about, but that's the way it'll be perceived.

Well, I'm slightly bitter, and I wasn't even alive when the team left. I just think it's a joke that Baltimore's team is grouped in with expansion/evil-owner-who-moved-team teams like Jacksonville or Tennessee instead of as a team with a history of football to rival any in the league.

As for the fight song, the original Colt song is better, but I think the re-imagined lyrics are slightly dumb. To which I'd say, that's cool, we don't really need to sing any of it except FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT.

[ravenwoman]

Its all about the music. The Colts song is as indelibly stamped in Baltimore's culture as steamed crabs. Change the name from Colts to Birds and leave everything else the same. Guaranteed that after a few games virtually everyone will be in their seats sooner. Should have happened in 1996.

:word:iagree:

[Galen Sevinne]

76% to 24% as of 9 pm = a fuckin' landslide brewing! :ref:

Question: who in their right mind would not vote for the original fight song tune (modernized to encompass the Ravens), which is a huge part of our NFL heritage?

:beer: :greece :T2:

:word

I can still hear my grandfather whistling the fight song on Sunday mornings as we were getting ready to head to Memorial. I have long said how amazing it is that the old Colt's song stuck in my head for all these years but I couldn't even begin to tell you how the Ravens song goes.

Next bring back the "Big Wheel" to elicit the thunder of R-A-V-E-N-S through the stadium. As a kid I used to get chills whenever C-O-L-T-S thundered...it was deafening - at least as I remember it as a 7 year old.

Finally return autographs for the old nostalgics at training camp and all will be good once again.

[Mr.Boh]

76% to 24% as of 9 pm = a fuckin' landslide brewing! :ref:

Question: who in their right mind would not vote for the original fight song tune (modernized to encompass the Ravens), which is a huge part of our NFL heritage?

:beer: :greece :T2:

Me. I happen to really like the newer Ravens song. i have a little football I got for christmas ages ago that plays it when slammed to the ground and it has played every Ravens TD for years.

[Brtnder81]

everytime I hear the instrumental of the colts/ravens song all i think of is the colts even with the new raven lyrics (which suck by the way) so i voted for the current fight song but I dont really like that one either. they should create a complete new song

[Beerracuda]

The Baltimore Colts are dead and gone... Stolen in the middle of the night by a piece of shit owner who couldn't give a crap about the team from day one. However, the band, and the city, lived on. The song was as much a tradition as a TD pass from Johnny Unitas to Raymond Berry. Incorporating the old Colts' fight song is another way Baltimore stands up and says "Fuck you Irsay. You stole our team, but you can't steal our traditions".

The old team may be in the past, but the city's traditions are still our present, and our future.

[RavenScallywag]

As far as the lyrics sucking...really? Part of the biggest reason I want the fight song to come back is because my in-laws try to use the Redskins song to tease me, since we don't have a very recognizable one...The Redskins probably have the most recognizable fight song in the NFL, let's examine the lyrics...

"Hail to the Redskins, hail victory, braves on the warpath, fight for old D.C."

How is that any better than "Baltimore Ravens let's go, and put the ball across the line, So fly on with talons spread wide, Go in and strike with Ravens pride"? maybe make the first two lines more ferocious sounding?

A fight song is going to be a bit cheesy, that's a given. I mean, look at the current one, how can you say THAT isn't more cheesy than the re-worked new version:

"Flying high, Fierce pride in our eyes –
The Ravens of Baltimore.
On dark wings we fly, Honor bound for the sky –
Over Maryland we’ll always soar."

And the next line uses the word "vie"...I just feel like the melody of the old Colts fight song will draw people in a little better. I already put it to a vote with my 2 year old, he's really digging the new version. And that's good for me because SOMEONE in the in-laws taught him the Redskins fight song. I need to battle that with something (Yeah, I know what youy're going to say...It's called WINNING).

[myfavoriteboxer]

As far as the lyrics sucking...really?

The reason the reimagined lyrics are bad mostly has to do with the way the syllables of the lines are emphasized, whether spoken or sung.

At the end of the first line in the original the bah-dah-dah-dah is "baltimore colts," in the new one it's "ravens let's go," in line three it's "talons spread wide." Just sounds awkward and will be difficult to sing. Try to say "ravens let's go" at the pace that the song goes, I at least am tripping over my S pronunciations. The second half of the song is fine, except for when "ravens dark wings" replaces "rear up you colts."

It's a tough job to take an existing poem and try to change the words while keeping the accents in the same places in the lines, without it sounding off. Whoever did the new lyrics didn't succeed at that.

Then again if Modell had gotten his way and we were the "Baltimore Browns" the name would fit much better into the song, but how lame would that have been otherwise?

[Mista T]

Loser alert!!! Loser alert!!!!

Don't feed the Trolls!


As far as the lyrics sucking...really? Part of the biggest reason I want the fight song to come back is because my in-laws try to use the Redskins song to tease me, since we don't have a very recognizable one...The Redskins probably have the most recognizable fight song in the NFL, let's examine the lyrics...

"Hail to the Redskins, hail victory, braves on the warpath, fight for old D.C."

How is that any better than "Baltimore Ravens let's go, and put the ball across the line, So fly on with talons spread wide, Go in and strike with Ravens pride"?



One way that it is better: the Landover team's song is very, very simple. Our new lyrics to the old Colts song are more complex than they should be.

Frankly, the old Colts song was also too complex ... great arousing music, and the "fight, fight, fight" verse will shake the Ravens stadium just like it used to shake Memorial Stadium ... but the bulk of the other words were just mumbled by most Colt fans until the last two lines: "For Baltimore and Maryland, We will march onto victory".

btw, for any of you youngsters: please watch the movie "Diner" to gain a different appreciation of the Colts song.

[Gwaihir]

Don't feed the Trolls!
btw, for any of you youngsters: please watch the movie "Diner" to gain a different appreciation of the Colts song.

Total Classic! Should be reqired viewing for all younger Ravens fans that weren't around to experience the pain of the Colts theft.

[flraven]

Actually, I am rather torn between the two songs.

The reworked Colts song is great, but that tune should (IMHO) stay part of the Baltimore Colts legacy here. That song immortalized the Baltimore Colts and perhaps it should stay as it is, and not reworked for the Ravens.

Then again, after hearing that great old melody with Ravens-centered lyrics, I really like it.

On the other hand, my group of fans have embraced the Ravens fight song of 1996. In fact, win or lose, my good friend Real Fan Dan and I, would sing that song after every score (after he did his Big Wheel style R-A-V-E-N-S cheer for the crowd in 532 and surrounding sections) and while going down the steps of the stadium, win or lose. Now that I am in Florida, after every Ravens win, I make a point of it to call ol' Dan and sing the Ravens fight song to his answering machine. We do this to honor the memory of the old Colts fight song, so that the Ravens fight song may live on.

Sorry for the ramble, but as I have been typing this, I think I have decided that the new Ravens song should be the way to go. That way, the memory of the old Baltimore Colts is preserved in the new Ravens fight song.

I will never forget the last time I heard the Ravens band play the Colts fight song, it was slowed down at the game to memorialize John Unitas, when they put his cleats in a glass case by the jersey they had emblazoned on the field where he stood for games.

[ravensfan1996]

If you ever go to a home game in Miami, you wil hear the "miami dophins" song sung to the tune of the Houston Oilers fight song......I hear what you are saying about colts legacy, but if you find a tune that works....keep it!

[Mista T]

I laughed out loud when I heard that dumbass "Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers" sung at the Astrodome when the Colts visited a few decades ago. Clearly the NFL worst team fight song - outside of Buffalo's destruction of the Isley Brothers Classic "Shout". I couldn't believe that that same tune was being sung by the few thousand Dolphins fans in attendance in the 2008 & 2009 games. Not even David Modell's Ravens fight song was that bad!

[Mr OC]

I laughed out loud when I heard that dumbass "Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers" sung at the Astrodome when the Colts visited a few decades ago. Clearly the NFL worst team fight song - outside of Buffalo's destruction of the Isley Brothers Classic "Shout". I couldn't believe that that same tune was being sung by the few thousand Dolphins fans in attendance in the 2008 & 2009 games. Not even David Modell's Ravens fight song was that bad!

Agree...Buffet's reworking of "Fins" made me jealous though...

[Mike B]

I love the old song and, while I understood the reason it wasn't, I wish it had been adapted to the Ravens. I felt even stronger after seeing "The Band that Wouldn't Die." That song is as much about the pride of Baltimore as it was the old Colts.

"Ravenize it" and bring it back!
Agreed, I think they did a nice job incorporating the Ravens into the song but that song is as much A Baltimore song as it was the Colt or hopefully now a Raven song.
I love listening to that old song and as some one who sat in Memorial Stadium for many games I can tell that song fired up the crowds then, much like Ray's dance does now.
Adopt it, play it after every score and make it even more difficult for other teams to play here.
One other thing, the new song will remind us older fans of the incomparable Johnny U, Ray Berry, Lenny, Mackey, Bert and many others. So what, it will also in the very near future be a snappy song that reminds of Ray, Ed, Flacco, Rice and many more.

No Brainer for me.

Go Ravens!!

[Sunny King]

So screw a old fight song. I wrote a new one that is a great drunk soccer hooligan chant. When writing it I had the following checklist in mind:


- Is it cheesy? check
- does it involve hand clapping? check
- Do you say the Baltimore O? check
- Do you get to yell f*ck? double check (well you can come in early with the O part and not curse)

To download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?xthkh5zi8h217y7

Lyrics:
We… are…. Baltimore, now here we come
We are the birds that prey on everyone
We move the chains and score on every run
We are the Ravens, We are champions
So when you see that PURPLE lining up
It’s a sign to you your time is up
Now you can bow or kneel, we don’t give a f*ck….. OOOOO
We’re the Ravens go, go, go!!
One more time!!
We’re the Ravens go, go, go!!


Let me know what you think.

-J

[sailorsam]

I fear that if we use the old tune Irsay's ghost will rise from the grave and sue us for using 'MY song!'

[Big Bird]

The old Colts fight song was great. It memorialized Baltimore as much as it did the Colts. I'd love to see the Ravens adopt that tune for the Ravens.

It is Baltimore guys and gals. Not Indy. Indy does not play it.

I ain't in love with the words but the tune is Baltimore all the way..