A rousing game of the ten-pin variant known as duckpin made me wonder recently how many songs have been written in celebration of the sport of bowling — an all-ages balm for these fun-starved times.
Wayne Kent, lead singer behind The Blue Flames‘ “Bowling U.S.A.,” exalts in one of America’s favorite pastimes while bravely confessing a physical frailty that (he claims) makes it impossible for him to even hoist the ball:
Note: audio clip for “Bowling U.S.A.” has since been pulled fromYouTube, so instead, this piece will feature “Laser Cat Bowling” by Parry (“Raining Tacos“) Gripp:
“Laser Cat Bowling” Parry Gripp 2012
Many thanks to 45Cat contributor mickey rat, whose research reveals indie label, Strand, to have once been a subsidiary company of Consolidated Frybrook Industries — founded in 1958 by Canadian entrepreneur, Jack Kent Cooke, who would go on to own a number of media outlets and professional sports teams, including the Washington [Pig]skins, as well as – at one point – the Chrysler Building.
Listed below are a number of notable bowling-related tunes that include links to streaming audio – another public service from those tireless researchers at Zero to 180:
- “Bowling Alley” Harry Harden & His Musette Orchestra 1941
- “The Bowling Song” Joe Montgomery 1957
- “Gotta Go Bowling” Guy Goodwin 1960
- “Bowling U.S.A.” The Blue Flames 1960
- “Bowling Alley Blues” The Flintstones 1962
- “Tenpin Bowling” Bryan Davies 1962
- “Bowling Ball Blues” Mack Fields 1964?
- “Let’s Go Bowling” Bert Kaempfert 1964
- “Let’s Go Bowling” Fred Baca 1965
- “Left Hand Bowling Ball” Dubb Pritchett 1965
- “Bowling Alley Oop” The Cavemen 196?
- “Bowling Brings Out the Swinger in You” The Twilights 1967
- “The Bowling Song” Don Lewis 1968
- “Let’s Go Bowling” The Telefones 1980
- “Bowling with Bedrock Barney” The Dickies 1980
- “Crayola Bowling” Stick Figures 1981
- “Take the Skinheads Bowling” Camper Van Beethoven 1985
- “The Bowling Ball” Carl F. Becker 1985
- “L.G.B.” Let’s Go Bowling 1988
- “Bowling Ball Gardens” The Halibuts 1994
- “Inside a Bowling Pin” Fabric 1997
- “Bowling and Beer” Da Yoopers 1999
- “The Bowling Song” Asleep at the Wheel 2001
- “Let’s Go Bowling” Camera Obscura 2001
- “Bowling Song” Stephen Lynch 2002
- “Bowling with Mark E. Smith” The Ik Jan Cremers 2007
- “Red Bowling Ball Ruth” The White Stripes 2011
- “Laser Cat Bowling” Parry Gripp 2012
- “Miss Marlene” Donald Fagen 2012
- “Beer Frame Judy” Mike J. Laneside & the Front Four 2013
On the flimsiest of “related” notes, I just discovered a song composed by Roger Bowling that somehow got excluded from my vast list of songs with Cincinnati in the song title — 1967’s “I’m Leaving Cincinnati” by Larry Roberts.