Review: Kyle Turley, "Death, Drugs and the Double Cross"

I’ll offer a disclaimer at the beginning of this review. I’ve been a Saints fan as long as I can remember. I watched my first game toward the end of the Manning era when I was probably 8- or 9-years-old. Let’s just say there weren’t any thoughts of Super Bowls in those days.

Kyle Turley just happens to be, along with guys like Sam Mills and Deuce McAllister, one of my favorite players ever to wear the black and gold. He was mean and nasty on the line, just a little crazy, and he knew how to protect his quarterback. Though, in retrospect, the team might have been better off in the long run if he’d just let the guy have his way with Aaron Brooks. I’m referring, of course, to the infamous helmet-throwing incident in 2001 that will likely be Turley’s lasting legacy in the public view, despite his hard-nosed play and two Pro Bowl appearances. He even pokes a little fun at the incident in the song “Flying Helmets” from his 2010 debut Anger Management, which focuses on his football days.

Stuck in My Head: Down, "On March the Saints"

While most folks probably went for something like the Rebirth Brass Band's version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" after the New Orleans Saints advanced to the Super Bowl for the first time on Sunday, you know I had to reach for something a little heavier. So after Garrett Hartley's kick sailed through the uprights, I cranked up this tune from Down's 2007 album "III: Over the Under."

No, the song is not about the football team, which becomes readily apparent with a listen to the lyrics. Written around the time of the team's 2006 run to the NFC Championship, an effort that energized the city and played a big role in raising spirits in the area following Hurricane Katrina, it uses the Saints as a clever metaphor for the people of New Orleans. That, in itself, is interesting since singer Phil Anselmo isn't exactly known for the use of metaphor in his lyrics ... or any other literary tool for that matter.

Don't get me wrong. This isn't high art. It certainly has its lyrical challenges, but the sentiment of the song comes through in a very personal way. To me, "On March the Saints" perfectly captures the atmosphere and struggle in New Orleans in the years since Katrina. The lyrics and music capture the uncertainty and chaos in the wake of the storm. The song expresses the hopelessness and devastation of the storms. At the same time though, there's a definite joy there, a feeling of triumph in overcoming the challenges.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that the song features a great, sludgy slab of a guitar riff, and an undeniable heavy groove.

I'll understand if most fans turn to "When the Saints Go Marching In," or maybe U2's "The Saints are Coming" performance from the reopening of the Superdome in 2006 to celebrate. I'll probably listen to both a few times in the coming weeks. But for me, the primary soundtrack leading up to the Super Bowl is going to include a heavy dose of "On March the Saints." Here's hoping a little of the power and the attitude of the song rubs off on our Saints, and I can crank it again in honor of a Super Bowl win in a couple of weeks.

Stuck in my Head: "The Saints Are Coming," U2 and Green Day

For every music fan there are those bands that seem to surround you. They're critical darlings, everyone seems to love them and it seems that if you're not a fan, you're somehow disconnected from the rest of your generation. For me, one of those bands is U2.

I've never disliked U2. In fact, I really like a few of their songs, but overall, I'm indifferent. If they come on the radio, I won't switch the station, but neither am I likely to turn up the volume.
But my perception of U2 changed on Sept. 25, 2006, when before the Saints' triumphant return to the Superdome, they took the stage with Green Day (a band that I truly do not like) and pounded out a modified version of The Skids tune "The Saints are Coming."

I wasn't one of the ones in the stands that night, but even through my television the energy and spirit in that building came through. It made me want to stand up off my couch and jump up and down and scream like I was in New Orleans. It was the perfect choice - the kind of high energy song that could pump a crowd up to an even higher level, with lyrics that just about everyone filling the Dome that night could relate to. Sure, the night would have been special and probably just as electric without U2's performance, but it provided the icing.

It provided a triumphant beginning to what was a year of many triumphs in New Orleans, a year where Louisianans love of football really did matter in the wider world and a year where a sports franchise really did make a difference, on and off the field. Every time I hear the song, I'm taken back to that night and a little of that feeling returns.

With the Saints set to kickoff the regular season Thursday night against the Indianapolis Colts, I guess it's only fitting that "The Saints are Coming" should be running around in my head. I've got more excitement about this season of Saints football than I've ever had in my entire life. Prediction? Tune in Thursday to see a preview of this year's Super Bowl.

Hear a sample of "The Saints are Coming."

Get U2's "18 Singles."

Stuck in my Head is an occasional feature about whatever song happens to be running around incessantly in my head at the moment.