Friday nights mean it’s time for prep football music.
Prep Football Music
It’s Friday afternoon! When I was a Crusader Band dad, now would be when we were getting it together to head to Tad Gormley for a Crusader football game. That early? Yes. For the five years my son Kevin (2012) was in the band, Mr. Hurley and Mr. Caronna wanted them at the stadium a good hour before game time. So, off we went to grab a bite to eat, then drop the kiddo at the stadium, then find a place to park. We would usually sit up at the top of the bleachers in the stadium, next to where the band and the Dominican Debs sat. The routine was a far cry from the game nights I spent in the press box as a statistician.
The Horse
While there were many songs that stuck with me from eighth grade in 1971 to this day, I can’t think of a time when the band didn’t play “The Horse,” by Cliff Nobles. While Nobles was a soul singer from Philly, his one hit was this instrumental tune. It’s become a marching band staple ever since.
Nobles released “The Horse” in the summer of 1968, and it went gold in August of that year, selling one million copies. It reached #2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts. Being an instrumental, it was natural that high school bands picked it up. Crusader band played it regularly in the championship season of 1971, and I fondly remember following the band through the school as they played it on game day mornings. It was never part of a halftime show, always “stand music.”
1971
The photo presents Crusader Band at the state championship game versus St. Augustine, 10-December-1971. I’ve written about the game and that halftime show. What a great end to an exciting, sometimes nerve-wracking season.
Still around
“The Horse” is still in the flip books. This is the only video I found of Crusader Band playing the tune, in 2017. I’m not sure what stadium this is in, but it’s not Tad Gormley. The social interaction of kids walking by as the game progresses on the field is so typical of New Orleans’ version of Friday Night Lights.
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