When I think of walk on songs I also picture boxers walking to the ring; or Elvis coming on stage in the 70s to Also Sprach Zarathustra. Say what you want, but Fat Elvis was way cool also.
My long-standing walk-on song is the unimpeachable Tumbling Dice. Here it is in all its messy-haired, elastic grooved glory from Ladies and Gentleman: The Rolling Stones. You can actually see the riff emerge from Keef’s DNA, work its way through his sinew, into the fingers, then the Tele and rifle its way to the Ampeg stacks. The Stones’ entire musical ethos is baked into this track.
When I was a kid we all watched wrestling on Saturday nights. This was probably my introduction to the Walk On song. Here’s a YT montage of THE heart throb Kerry Von Erich and his chosen Walk On song, Tom Sawyer.
Things were a little less glamorous in the UK. Wrestling was shown every Saturday afternoon, remembering that the UK only had 3 television channels at the time so it was a big thing.
