Jeff Daniels - Tiger Fan Blues Revisted VIDEO

October 6, 2006
Jeff Daniels does a 180 on his 'Tiger Fan Blues'
Adam Graham / The Detroit News

A fter years of watching the Detroit Tigers suffer humiliating losses, Jeff Daniels -- like so many Tigers fans -- had the blues. So he wrote a song about it.

"The Lifelong Tiger Fan Blues," written after the Tigers' disastrous 2003 season and included on the actor's 2004 CD, details the hurt and pain of watching the Tigers endure years of shame and embarrassment. "There's no hope in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel, no shining white light," Daniels sings. "As bad as it is, it's as good as it gets, when you're only one game better than the '62 Mets."

Then a funny thing happened: The Tigers started winning. With his original song (happily) rendered irrelevant, Daniels, a Tigers season ticket holder for 10 years, decided to write and record an updated version: "Tiger Fan Blues Revisited."

This time around, the lyrics were much more celebratory: "Just when I thought I couldn't get any lower, my sky opened up and my cup runneth over," Daniels sings, in the song's signature Delta blues style. Later, he elates, "If the Pope's still Catholic and the world's still round, my Detroit Tigers are World Series bound."

Daniels penned the new version in late July, and debuted it in mid-August while performing at an auto suppliers' convention in Traverse City. Reaction was so positive that he contacted Fox Sports Network in Detroit, which expressed interested in the song, and he recorded a version of it at a studio in Lansing. Daniels shot a video for the song on Belle Isle, at Hockeytown Cafe and inside Comerica Park. FSN premiered the video -- which is available on YouTube.com -- during a Tigers' broadcast last month.

Daniels is selling the song on his Web site for 99 cents, and says he's sold 1,000 downloads so far. Proceeds go to his Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea.

"For some people, it's like merchandise, another thing to have in your possession as part of the 2006 Tigers season," says Daniels, on the phone from his Chelsea home Thursday morning. "It's a good piece of memorabilia."

Daniels' biggest struggle came in the middle of the song, when he lists-off members of the Tigers' roster. For one, the lineup kept changing -- the day he recorded the song was the day the Tigers cut Dmitri Young -- and, as Daniels points out, "It's not like you can go to the rhyming dictionary to find something to rhyme with Verlander."

But everything worked out in the end, and Daniels is thrilled to be a part of the Tigers' winning season. He performed "Tiger Fan Blues Revisited" at Monday's fan rally at Comerica Park.

Daniels is hoping to put out his second CD by the end of the month, and he has two movies -- "The Lookout," a bank heist thriller, and "Mama's Boy," a comedy with Jon Heder and Diane Keaton -- due for release next year.

Right now, however, he's got the Tigers on his mind, and he plans to be in attendance at the game tonight.

Win or lose, he's got those lifelong Tigers fan blues.

"It goes beyond just being a baseball fan and cheering your team," Daniels says, summing up the Tigers' season. "As someone who travels around the country, going to both coasts, and constantly being asked, 'Why would you possibly want to live in Detroit,' what the Tigers have done -- regardless of how they do -- has made it OK to feel good about the city. And it feels good to feel good about Detroit."

You can reach Adam Graham at (313) 222-2284 or agraham@detnews.com.

That was cute!

Jeff LOVES his Tigers!!!

Quote :

Daniels, a Tigers season ticket holder for 10
years, decided to write and record an updated version: "Tiger Fan Blues
Revisited."

That was really cute!!!

Jeff Daniels - Tiger Fan Blues 2010 Revisted VIDEO

Actor/singer/songwriter Jeff Daniels sings about the pain of following teams from Detroit