Back in 2015, indie folk-rock band The Mountain Goats released an album called Beat the Champ, which was, somewhat oddly, focused entirely on professional wrestling. An homage to the territory days of sports entertainment, Beat the Champ featured singles such as “The Legend of Chavo Guerrero” and “Heel Turn 2.” The album was well received both by fans of the Mountain Goats and wrestling fans (and in the case of myself, the center of that Venn diagram) — but WWE Superstar Sasha Banks had one question upon hearing the album:
Where's my song @mountain_goats ?
— $asha Banks (@SashaBanksWWE) May 3, 2015
Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle admittedly does not keep up with current WWE, but he claimed he was happy to do his research and follow through with The Boss’s request.
@SashaBanksWWE album is all old territories days but I accept this challenge. Song for Sasha Banks will be written before end of tour
— The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) May 4, 2015
That was over three years ago, and anybody who saw this interaction had long since assumed it wasn’t materializing. However, tonight, Darnielle followed through with his promise and released “Song for Sasha Banks” on Bandcamp. Listen to the song here:
The song details Sasha’s rise from Boston-area fan to four time Women’s Champion and is an unorthodox accolade in the career of The Boss.
The tweet releasing the song, as well as the description for the song can be found below:
We here in the @mountain_goats acknowledge @SashaBanksWWE as the Boss and we know no road worth traveling doesn't have some bumps and we promised her this song several years back and I wrote it last week and here it is https://t.co/FZApRe6p1m
— The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) June 18, 2018
When Beat the Champ came out, a wrestler named Sasha Banks tweeted at me: “Where’s my song, @mountain_goats?” As a territories guy I had to learn her story. I said I’d finish the song by the end of the tour; it took a little longer than that.
Last night Sasha Banks wrestled for the Money in the Bank title, and while she didn’t take it home this time, I’ve learned enough about where she came from and how she got to where she is now to say with confidence: the sky is the limit for you. Your walk is just beginning and the day will come when all your setbacks look like steps on a ladder.
Jon Wurster and I recorded this song at Chris Stamey’s place last week — that’s Chris on bass; I last worked with Chris on the Moon Colony Bloodbath DP. Thanks to Chris for making this happen and to the Boss, Sasha Banks herself, for inspiring us all – to learn about you and to write this song was a real honor for me.
Dedicated of course to Sasha and to everybody who’s even had a hint of what it looks like when your dreams start pushing their elbows through the gauze into the real world of blood & sweat & bone.
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