As I was glued to my set watching the Cubs win the World Series (and yes, it still sounds surreal), I had a song playing in my head. This isn’t unusual since I have a song in my head every second of every day, but it is odd that it wasn’t “Go, Cubs, Go”. Instead, my song came from Ernie Banks.
No, Mr. Cub wasn’t a musician, but in 2007 he did commission Pearl Jam singer and Evanston native Eddie Vedder to write a song about the Cubs. He wrote a song called “All The Way,” and it goes straight to the heart of any true Cubs fan. Lines like “There’s magic in the ivy and the old scoreboard, The same one I stared at as a kid keeping score,” really struck a nerve with this North Side kid who felt that magic as I sat above that ivy and stared at that same scoreboard.
As I watched the team celebrate their incredible feat in the locker room after the game, and the song brought tears to my eyes….
“And when the day comes with that last winning run,
And I’m crying and covered in beer,
I’ll look to the sky and know I was right,
To think someday we’ll go all the way.
Yeah,
Someday we’ll go all the way.”
Thank you to Eddie Vedder for the gift of his song “All The Way,” and to the 2016 Chicago Cubs for giving so many a gift that they thought they might never receive.
“All The Way” is available for download on iTunes or at the Pearl Jam website at: pearljam.com.
