One of the few Randy Newman songs I actually enjoy is "Burn On". Written in the 1972, it evokes nostalgic feelings about both the charm of Cleveland and all that has gone wrong in that town. It was used perfectly in the opening credits of the sports comedy, Major League. Here it is (slightly cut, unfortunately) coupled with a nice montage of the "city of lights", a delightful phrase of dual meaning that ironically points to both the many lit up buildings at night (part of the charm) and the blazing Cuyahoga river of 1969 (part of the misery):
I came across it in a link from an excellent list of "10 worse things than Joe Borowski to happen to Cleveland". One thing from the list that I didn't know was how silly the reason was for changing the city's name from "Cleaveland" to "Cleveland" in 1831 (see #10):
10. Blame the media — The town's name is misspelled forever when the Cleaveland Advertiser can't fit "Cleaveland Advertiser" all the way across the top of the page, so it drops the first "a" in Cleaveland. Seriously.
9. Earnest Byner, no! — In a football play simply known as "The Fumble," Byner coughs up the ball at the 3-yard line with 72 seconds left in the 1988 AFC Championship game, costing the Browns a Super Bowl berth.
8. "Burn On" by Randy Newman — "There's a red moon rising, on the Cuyahoga River, rolling into Cleveland to the lake." Lyrics immortalizing the river catching fire in 1969 which you also heard on the soundtrack to "Major League."
7. Don King — Many think the Cleveland native's greed as a promoter helped ruin boxing. Wait, is that all?
6. Sam Wyche goes off — Cincinnati fans throw trash on the field at Riverfront Stadium, so the Bengals coach reminds them of something.
5. Red men — The Indians wear these uniforms!
4. Michael Jordan's shot on Craig Ehlo — The Bulls and Cavaliers both tried to be the NBA's next big thing, but Jordan willed his team to the front of the line with a game-winning, series-ending shot on May 7, 1989 that changed the fortunes of both franchises. The Bulls would win six titles; the Cavs would fall into disrepair until LeBron James arrived nearly 15 years later.
3. All that for nothin' — The Tribe wins 111 games and is swept in the '54 World Series.
2. Brother, can you spare a trillion dimes? — It's 1978. Cleveland has no money to pay for anything.
1. Never more — The old, bad Browns move to Baltimore and become the new, good Ravens.
Here's one more video using Randy's song that runs through many of the sports moments just listed and more (however, there is an error -- they show "The Fumble" happening before "The Drive" when it should be after):
*Sigh* Poor Cleveland.
