Sterling Whipple - Dirty Work

OldMan Zeke

2009-05-18 02:01:40 UTC

No Crying in Baseball, Sure, but in Football, Serious Tears

By Preston Williams
Thursday, September 18, 2008; Page GZ17
Rolling Stone magazine called the song a "Maserati of Mush." The liner
notes to Rhino Records' "Super Hits of the '70s : Have a Nice Day, Vol.
20" dub it the "teariest tearjerker of 1975" and warn listeners to "have
some hankies handy -- to wipe away the tears or plug up your speakers."
It pops up on Most Annoying Songs and Worst Songs of All Time lists on
the Internet.
Those critics can howl all they want. We call "The Blind Man in the
Bleachers" the only hit song we know about high school football, and for
that, songwriter Sterling Whipple deserves a long-overdue game ball.

Whipple's melodramatic tune about a football player and his father, sung
by Kenny Starr, climbed to No. 2 on the country charts and was nominated
for a Country Music Association Song of the Year award.

At the same time, a version by David Geddes, under the alternate title
"The Last Game of the Season," crept to No. 18 on the pop charts.
Whipple said some radio stations played both versions and invited
listeners to vote for their favorite.
"Whatever the name, it's the song that's selling," Rolling Stone
declared in January 1976, saying that the composition "works even on the
most calcified of heartstrings."
"Blind Man" is a story song, with a spoken intro. A boy's sight-impaired
dad is a fixture at his son's games, although the bench-warming kid
never gets to play. The father is sure that the boy has untapped
potential, and he longs to hear his name called over the loudspeaker.
One night, the dad doesn't show up at the stadium, and the boy finally
gets on the field. If you want to know the rest -- and you know you do
-- take 3 1/2 minutes and listen to the song here (the country version)
or here (the pop version).
Whipple, 60, who had several hits after "Blind Man" and is retired from
the music industry and living outside Nashville, said in a phone
interview that "Blind Man" tied together several threads of his life.
The song is based on a story he heard in church growing up in Oregon.
Whipple played quarterback at Scappoose High School (also the alma mater
of Cleveland Browns quarterback Derek Anderson), so he had a deft feel
for the high school football setting.
The clinching inspiration for the song came when Whipple's father died
in 1975. By dropping out of law school years before, Whipple had felt as
if he had let down his old man, a lawyer, and his dad would not be
around to enjoy any success his son might enjoy in the music business.
"I kind of broke his heart," Whipple said.
So in that vulnerable state, Whipple wrote "Blind Man" in about 25
cathartic minutes. It was not intended to be the heartstrings-tugger
that it became. "It was so inspired," said Nancy Whipple, Sterling's
wife and high school sweetheart. "This just rolled out of him."
Whipple liked "Blind Man" but was not sure the country music
establishment would nibble on a song about an unconventional topic
written by a Pacific Northwest interloper with a name like an obscure
wedding registry item. At that point, he did not have much of a track
record.
"It was going to be impossible to get cut for the very reason that it
was about football," said Whipple, who is amused at the negative
reaction the song has evoked over the years. "We wanted to hear about
cheating and fighting and drinking and all that country stuff. It's icky
and gooey, but it kind of gets you.
"A lawyer I knew back in Oregon said he would never listen to the song
again because he didn't listen to music so he could pull off the road
and cry."
Indeed, the song is simple, syrupy and cinematic, with a gut-punch
ending. It perked the ears of radio listeners, got write-ups in Sports
Illustrated and Rolling Stone and launched Whipple's career, which
included penning hits for, among others, Mel Tillis ("Ain't No
California"), T.G. Sheppard ("Baby, I'll Be Coming Back for More"), Mac
Davis ("Forever Lovers"), Bobby Borchers ("Cheap Perfume and
Candlelight"), Johnny Lee ("Prisoner of Hope"), Tommy Overstreet ("If
Love Was a Bottle of Wine"), Gary Stewart ("In Some Room Above the
Street") and Joe Diffie ("Third Rock From the Sun," a title used by the
subsequent TV show).
Although "Blind Man" is about football, the song touches on the faith a
father has in his son, a son's desire to please his dad and (spoiler
alert) even the afterlife. Starr's version is more affecting because it
ends abruptly. The slicker Geddes version fades out on a repeated
chorus.
High school football has been the subject of numerous movies. Think "All
the Right Moves," "Remember the Titans," "Friday Night Lights" (based on
the H.G. Bissinger book), "Varsity Blues," "Facing the Giants," "The
Best of Times," "Radio," "Wildcats" and "Johnny Be Good." "Friday Night
Lights" was made into a TV show. ESPN routinely televises high school
games. Preps-related Web sites dot cyberspace.
Yet "Blind Man" is the only hit single we know of that's about high
school football; throwing in a sportsy line or two in a song about
something else doesn't count. Kind of hard to figure, because there is a
lot to write about: small towns, Friday nights, proud parents, pressure,
machismo, girlfriends, school pride, picking yourself up after being
knocked down, under-the-bleacher shenanigans, the twilight years of
youth. That's a lot of low-hanging fruit.
Steve Earle, with his achingly reflective "No. 29," and Randy Newman,
with "Golden Gridiron Boy," a tale of a guy in the band whose crush is
more interested in the quarterback than a horn toter, are among those
who have tackled the subject.
The best-known example of the powers of "Blind Man" came in fall 1975
when Vanderbilt Coach Fred Pancoast read the lyrics to his team before
playing mighty Tennessee. The Vandy players, after drying their eyes,
pulled out a 17-14 victory in the regular season finale, their first win
in the series since 1964.
Whipple, who for a time worked for a child protective services agency in
Tennessee and is editing his first novel, said he is not much of a
college or pro football fan. But he has a soft spot for high school
ball. He attends games at Hendersonville High School near his home, and
he and Nancy still receive letters from high school coaches asking
permission to use the song. Whipple doesn't own the copyright, but he is
all for coaches borrowing his breakthrough hit.
Players "still cry in high school, and they chew each other out for
doing stuff wrong," Whipple said. " 'Innocent' is a strong word, but
they care. That's a true game. The glory, the expectations, the fun of
the game, representing your school, their name going out over the
speakers. It all seems so sweet and silly to us adults.
"But for 90 percent of those kids," Whipple said, "that's the best it's
ever gonna be."