Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Stompin' Tom's Hockey Song -- not gonna happen


There are several reasons that I don't see "Hello out there, we're on the air... etc." as the new Hockey Night In Canada theme:
-Stompin' Tom had a feud with the Corpse over the use of his theme for Marketplace ("Yes we are the people, runnin' in the race, buyin' up them bargains in the old Marketplace..."), and ended up pulling it. And as I understand through various sources, Tom carries a grudge.
-CBC has already announced a contest for a new theme.
-Do you really think the artsy-fartsy, granola-crunching, Birkenstock-wearing powers-that-be who have been totally screwing up the Corpse for the past several years would really adopt such a bourgeois song as The Hockey Song for the theme?
-You can argue that as simplistic as the song might be, it's true grassroots Canadian folklore, and I would agree. But again, the artsy-fartsies running the Corpse are totally out of touch with the grassroots, and would very quickly turn up their noses at the very notion of being so undignified as to actually return to their true mandate as the national public broadcaster.

Okay, I'm becoming fahrklempt. You have your topic, discuss amongst yourselves.

3 comments:

XUP said...

Oh my holy frig! What a lot of hoopla about a song. Yes, it’s real catchy and I’m sure no one could possibly play and/or watch hockey without it, but, geeeeeeeeeze.
Anyway, I’m glad you Da Man now ‘cause you work for the company that now owns the song forever and ever.

JB said...

Well, the younger Tom Connors, who manages old brown-tooth's (his father's) career is supposedly 'in talks' with CBC, and the reason why I see this happening is that they're now willing to spend a little more, considering they've just been summarily embarrassed by CTV Globemedia. The Hockey Song is iconic, and CBC owns the vintage video footage to enhance the song as its intro. I think it's going to happen. They still have the "shoot out the lights" song they can use on Saturday nights, plus they will invest a hundred grand on a newly-written song by a neophyte who wants to make a name for him-or-her-self. They're running at full tilt right now to try to save face, and Connors isn't exactly selling millions of records these days.
However, will it mean that the hundreds of arenas across Canada which use The Hockey Song during live games as part of their entertainment will have to stop using it? I would assume so. Will radio stations have to pay a licensing fee to play it in the future? I would assume so. In the end, I think the math still works in Connors' favour to make a deal with CBC.

Bob said...

Um, yeah, Stompin' Jr. says he's in negotiations with the CBC, just like the CBC said it was still in negotiations with the company representing Dolores Claman.

I'm just sayin' is all.

And I wouldn't worry. Stompin' Sr. knows where his next beer is coming from. Heck, he could hock his Order of Canada medal if he really had to. We are, after all, in the eBay era now.