Neil Giraldo grew up an Indians fan, so when he saw his hometown team making a run towards the playoffs, he and his ex-Cleveland Thrllls and Company band mates reunited to write "Liftin' the Curse of the Rock.''
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Neil Giraldo is a Clevelander through-and-through. Which explains why he is so nervous about his Indians World Series anthem "Liftin' the Curse of the Rock.''
"When I came up with that title,'' said Giraldo, calling Wednesday morning, the day after the Tribe's 9-3 loss in Game 6, from Miami, Florida, where he and wife Pat Benatar have a series of gigs, "I thought wouldn't it be great to write that song?
Hear a sample of "Liftin' the Curse of the Rock'' and buy it on iTunes.
"And then yesterday, when they started losing, I thought, 'I hope I didn't put a curse on the curse!'' he exclaimed. The fear scared the - well, you can guess - out of him, Giraldo said, laughing.
The song, rousing and rollicking, and told from the vantage point of a couple of Cleveland Italian kids who idolized fellow Italian Rocky Colavito, cites the curse that reportedly arose when the Rock was traded to Detroit in 1960 for Harvey Kuenn.
Best of all, it was recorded by Giraldo and his old Cleveland band mates Frank Amato, Gary Jones and Rod Psyka in Thrills and Company, the group he was in before leaving for New York 1977 to join Rick Derringer's band.
"It was a great little band, but we never made it,'' Giraldo said. "We went to California, tried, came back and failed.
"For years and years, I felt like I needed to do something for them to help them,'' he said. "They stayed in Cleveland had to get their day jobs, and I always felt like I wanted to give back.''
Initially, the Cleveland Cavaliers "reached out to me to do something, but I was a little afraid to do that,'' Giraldo said. "We have a lot of fans in Oakland, and I didn't want to piss anybody off.''
Frank Amato was the lead singer for Thrills and Company, the '70s Cleveland band that also featured Neil Giraldo on guitar. Giraldo, Amato (pictured singing to former Plain Dealer rock critic Jane Scott in 1987 with his other band, Beau Coup) and their TAC band mates teamed up to write and record a new Indians rallying anthem, "Lifting the Curse of the Rock.''Courtesy of Beau Coup
Then, this past July, the Tribe went on their run and the longtime Indians fan who dreamt of growing up to be a center fielder like Cleveland's Vic Davilillo, who played here from 1963 to 1968 - another guy who, like Giraldo, "was small and fast, too'' -- decided he'd spent enough time on the sidelines.
"I'm allowed to have a favorite, so in July, I came up with the title, 'Lifting the Curse of the Rock,' '' he said. "Being Italian, he was an icon for us.
So he called his old pals back in Cleveland and the process began. He'd write a chorus and play drums and guitar; Amato, the vocalist on the track, and the others back in C-town would write a verse and record it and ship it back to him. Thanks to the wonders of technology, they were able to put together the song without actually having to be in the studio together, which would have been impossible with Giraldo's touring schedule. And, of course, everyone else's dreaded "day job.''
You want true proof of his Cleveland roots, all you have to do is mention the 1997 meltdown when the Indians were up against the Florida Marlins.
"I was actually in Cleveland,'' he said. "We had a show and we were staying at the Ritz-Carlton.
"I walked out of the elevator and I see this wedding party at the bar,'' he said. It appeared to him that the group had bellied up to the bar after the ceremony to watch the Series finale.
Then Jose Mesa blew the lead in the ninth, and the Tribe fell, 3-2, in the 10th.
"The Indians the lost it and this girl looks like Hell had fallen on her,'' he said. "I felt so bad for her. They had it won. They SHOULD have won.
"That's why we gotta lift this curse!'' Giraldo said.
Even though he's working tonight for Game 7, Giraldo will be paying attention to the game.
"Here's the deal: I go on at 8 p.m.,'' he said. "I will watch the game before I go onstage, and I will have my tech have my phone there with the app so I can see the score.
"If they win, I will stop the show and I will play the song and blast it over the PA system,'' he promised.
Seems fitting, since the gig is in Miami, the site of that 1997 heartbreak. And maybe, just maybe, he'll run into that dejected bride when he returns for the Indians' victory parade.