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“Walter Johnson”
Jonathan Richman

I’m a gonna tell you if you don’t know…
Bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum
About a great ball player from a long time ago.
Bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum

A hero to me; I ain’t puttin’ you on, son.
I now tell the story of baseball’s Walter Johnson.

All through baseball he was loved and respected.
Was there bitterness in Walter Johnson?
Well, it was never detected.

When pitchers throw their pitch to scare…
Bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum
They’ll almost hit that opposing player, whoa…
Bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum

Walter Johnson wouldn’t do that, not even just a little.
He kept that baseball right down the middle.

And all through baseball he was loved and respected.
Was there bitterness in Walter Johnson?
Well, it was never detected.

Well, when the Washington nine was a-gwyne to win…
Bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum
Walter would ease up a little on the opposition.
Bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum

The other teammates, they just didn’t get it.
They said, “Hey there, Walter, how come you let him hit it?”
Walter told them with his gentle smile.
Said, “Boys, this game’s no fun if you don’t get a hit once in a while.”

And all through baseball he was loved and respected.
Was there bitterness in Walter Johnson?
Well, it was never detected.

Well, a record’s just a record in a book that’s just a book.
Bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum
Walter Johnson never gave the opposing team so much as a dirty look.
Bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum ba bum

And a season’s just a season in a game that’s just a game.
And Walter Johnson cared about people more than he cared about fame.

So, all through baseball he was loved and respected.
Was there bitterness in Walter Johnson?
Well, it was never detected.

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1. The Top Five Rock Artists of the Decade (2000s): NUMBER FOUR is Jack Johnson
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By Chris Moore:

Hey there, sports fans!  Welcome to yet another “Chris Moore Monday” here at the Laptop Sessions new music video blog.  Today, as you may already know, is the opening day for the 2009 season of the New York Mets.  Ah, America’s favorite pastime…

Baseball!

Because I couldn’t be home in time to watch the first Mets regular season game, I decided to celebrate by learning and recording not one but two cover songs tonight.  This is the first video, inspired by an encounter with one of my colleagues.  At the end of school on Friday, he stopped by my room and said simply, “Listen to Walter Johnson before opening day.”  All I could think to say was, “Is that a song or a person?”  Sure enough, it’s a song.  He smiled as he replied and repeated that I should listen to it before opening day.  So, as suggested, I looked it up on YouTube early this morning and found the Jonathan Richman song “Walter Johnson.”  It’s an a cappella performance from his 1995 album You Must Ask the Heart.

A search of Wikipedia produced a brief biography and a picture of Richman with a guitar and prominent eighties-era Tom Selleck chest hair.  I don’t know what I expected, but it was certainly interesting to put a face to the singer of this unique song.

Truth be told, I have no real idea what possessed me to record a version of “Walter Johnson.”  There’s something about recording your own version of a song that forces you to become intimate, if only temporarily, with a track.  In this case, I don’t have any plans to buy any Richman albums in the near future, so I figured it would be a long time before I heard “Walter Johnson” again.  Being that it was opening day, it only seemed appropriate that I would pay tribute to Walter Johnson by singing my own version of the song.

I hope you enjoy it.  Feel free, of course, to laugh as you wish.  The “bum ba bum ba bum” parts are pretty funny — at least, they were to me at first.   But, really, this is the perfect day to sing this song!

And this is only the first of two baseball-related tunes I’ve carved out for you today.  Tune into the next one, “Joe DiMaggio Done It Again,” coming very shortly (watch it!)…

Related posts:

1. The Top Five Rock Artists of the Decade (2000s): NUMBER FOUR is Jack Johnson
2. “On Christmas Day” (Brian Wilson Christmas Cover Song) – The Laptop Sessions
3. The Top Five Rock Artists of the Decade (2000s): NUMBER FIVE is Green Day