When you’re a musician, football games hit a little differently. Take this Wednesday’s AutoZone Liberty Bowl Football Classic, a record-setting nail-biter if ever there was one. “The longest game in the Liberty Bowl’s 64-year history set 24 records, including total points (108), total offense by one team (681 yards by Arkansas) and first downs (32 by Kansas),” a report from the Associated Press tells us, but for this roving pair of ears, it was all about the music.
I was accompanying the mother of a former piano student who now plays clarinet in the University of Arkansas Razorback Marching Band. And hints of the music to come appeared as we walked to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium: There in the parking area, one could see the Shelby County Sheriff’s Ceremonial Guard milling around in their kilts with assorted bagpipes and drums. And pushing through the throng, one could spy the glint of silvery sousaphones, making their way from the band busses. Those horns would guide us to our seats, as we would be embedded adjacent to the Razorback band.
Settling in, we heard the familiar strains of “Soul Man” being piped through the jumbotron, and although it was the Blues Brothers’ version, not Sam and Dave’s, it still carried enough Memphis bona fides to strike a note of pride in our hearts.
And then suddenly, the pre-game show was upon us! The Razorback band had filed down to the ground level, and were sprinting out onto the field. What followed was an impressive, swinging arrangement of selections from West Side Story.
The music by Leonard Bernstein ranks among the classics of American jazz and theater, yet there was a surreal quality to hearing the poignant strains of “Somewhere” echo from the gridiron, played by young people who may have never before heard it. Later, I asked our clarinetist, Ella Thomas, about the experience.
“‘America’ was the only one I knew,” she said. “But as a section, we had a movie night and all watched the original West Side Story. And I thought the music was really good. Though it was really hard for the clarinets. My favorite part was the finale, a medley of ‘America,’ ‘Maria,’ and ‘Gee Officer Krupke.’ And the clarinets and the low woodwinds have kind of a feature in that one. We play the higher, faster melody. It’s very hard!”
For their part, the Kansas University Marching Jayhawks also brought jazz history into play, featuring a piece by native Kansan Stan Kenton in their halftime show. But it was their version of Cameo’s “Word Up” as the game raged below that really caught my attention.
Meanwhile, the remorseless sadism of football fandom brought other sounds into play. “Break his neck and twist it!” yelled one jolly spectator nearby; and other Razorback fans would gleefully boo injured Jayhawks off the field. Having been raised a Nebraska Cornhusker, I was used to it. But, as Thomas explained, the camaraderie between the opposing teams’ bands transcends any rivalry among the players.
“The Jayhawks band sounded really good!” she remarked. “The Kansas fans weren’t so nice, but the band was really nice to us. The day before, they all came to meet us at the parade, and when we were doing our show, they were cheering for us.” After the game, as musicians from both bands gathered at their busses, Thomas’ comments were borne out by the copious high-fives and back slapping between those wearing opposing colors.
Of course, marching bands aren’t the only source of music at a major bowl game, and this year’s Liberty Bowl was no exception. Naturally, the jumbotron pumped out classic party bangers to get folks revved up. Think Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle.” But classic rock also held court in the form of the halftime headliner, officially known as Starship featuring Mickey Thomas.
These hit-makers hold the dubious honor of having built a career on one of the world’s most reviled songs. This is especially interesting given the band’s genesis out of the ashes of two of rock’s biggest bands, Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. But that pedigree mattered little when Blender, Rolling Stone, and GQ magazines all named a song by Starship (with “Jefferson” removed for legal reasons) as the ultimate in bad taste. Indeed, it so trounced the competition in Rolling Stone‘s poll for that title that the magazine noted it “could be the biggest blow-out victory in the history of the Rolling Stone Readers Poll.”
Yes, I’m speaking of “We Built This City,” perhaps the only song lamenting corporate rock that is itself the most perfect exemplar of that genre ever recorded. Yet here in a city where the late Jim Dickinson’s Roland keyboard once proudly bore a sticker with the message “Corporate Rock Sucks,” enthusiasm for Wednesday’s performance was high.
While I share most jazz musicians’ reflexive disdain for the 1985 number one hit, as an anthropologist I am fascinated by its simultaneous popularity and unpopularity. Yet all such musings proved irrelevant as the Mickey Thomas and company knocked out a rendition that included a drop-out for the crowd to sing “Rock and rolllllllllll” without a trace of irony. Take that, Rolling Stone!
And then it was back to the game. Even I can tell you that it was one of the most gripping matches in the history of the sport, as the Razorbacks squeaked out a victory in triple overtime, after a stunning second half rally by Kansas. As the moment of victory settled in, the Razorback band launched into its standard choice for such moments, “It’s Hard to Be Humble.” And the fans sang along:
Oh, Lord it’s hard to be humble,
when you’re perfect in every way!
I can’t wait to look in the mirror,
I get better looking each day!
To know me is to love me,
I must be one hell of a fan!
Oh, Lord it’s hard to be humble,
when you’re an Arkansas Razorback fan!
As Thomas later noted quietly, “We don’t play anything if we lose.”
Naturally, there are many theories bouncing around the internet as to why the game ended as it did: bad referees, faulty and/or brilliant coaching, lucky breaks, or even the weather. But Ella Thomas and I know the real reason for the Liberty Bowl’s greatness that day: it was the music.