The Toronto Blue Jays are set to play in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) for the first time in nearly a decade—which is music to the ears of any fan in the city.
Now, local rapper SRE and legendary Canadian guitarist Randy Bachman have teamed up to provide the unofficial soundtrack to what will hopefully be an even deeper playoff run.
SRE, real name Isaac Asare, told CP24 on Friday that he and his producer were workshopping ideas for a new take on a song for the Toronto Blue Jays post-season before the team punched their ticket to the ALCS with a win over the New York Yankees on Wednesday.
“’We should do a tribute to the Jays,’” SRE recalls his producer saying over the phone. “Because, we wanted something diverse, something to reach the younger generation and also those that came before us.”
As the two were working on the song, which blends hip hop and rock, SRE said his producer proposed a “crazy” idea to get Bachman, of Bachman-Turner Overdrive and The Guess Who fame, to record a guitar lick.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, yeah. Whatever.’ This guy’s busy,” SRE said with a laugh.
But, just like this Jays season, the stars aligned and Bachman was in, with the song making its official debut on Thursday.
‘A complete, bizarre accident’
Speaking to CP24, Bachman said the collaboration was “a complete, bizarre accident.”
“My phone rang Sunday, about noon, and the voice said, ‘Hi, you don’t know me, but are you a baseball fan? I said, ‘Well yeah, I’m watching the playoffs.’ ‘Are you for the Jays?’ ‘Well of course, I’m Canadian,’” Bachman explained.
After SRE’s producer explained the premise of the project, Bachman agreed to take part, saying: “What the heck, I’ve got nothing to do. It’s Sunday.”
Bachman, who’s originally from Winnipeg, said it took about “four or five” minutes to lay down his guitar part.
The song, titled “I want it all,” is a riff on the Jays’ official post-season slogan “Want It All” (a nod to Queen’s anthemic 1989 hit of a similar name) and features SRE’s bars, in English and in Spanish, over Bachman riffing in the background.
SRE says his team has sent the song over to the Blue Jays organization and hopes it will catch their attention.
“So, we’re just waiting (for a response), and another dream for us would be to perform it before a game at the Rogers Centre. I feel like that would be huge. That would be historic. So, putting it out there,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bachman said if the track does become the Jays’ new “fight song,” he’s ready to rock.
