What Song Should Be the Giants' Late-Inning Theme? Your Input Is Requested.

​Yesterday, the Chronicle's Henry Schulman penned a truly entertaining article about how former Journey frontman Steve Perry is peeved because the Dodgers play "Don't Stop Believin'" when the team needs a rally in the bottom of the ninth -- and Perry is a Giants fan.

Any article in which Perry utters the line "I think the song is about hope and power, and it's working for them, damn it" is quality material. But it necessitates the question -- what song should the Giants play when they're down a couple of runs heading into last ups? Team spokeswoman Staci Slaughter confirmed that, currently, the team has no designated pick-em-up song; another Giants employee says that, in late pressure situations, the team often resorts to playing "Bon Jovi stuff." That's great if you want fans to flee the stadium -- but how about something that keeps 'em riveted?

If you have any bright ideas, please feel free to deposit your pearls of wisdom in the comments section. Incidentally, the song need not present so literal a message as "Don't Stop Believin'" -- somehow "Sweet Caroline" became a sports anthem, too. 

Incidentally, since it's inevitably easier to knock something down than build it up, it was no challenge to conceive of the absolute worst, most inappropriate songs to play late in a tight, losing game:

• "The End" by The Doors;
• "The End" by the Beatles;
  
• "Closing Time" by Semisonic;
  
• "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash
• "Pressure" by Billy Joel (actually, anything by Billy Joel)
• "We're All Gonna Be Just Dirt In The Ground" By Tom Waits
• "Here's to the Losers," by Frank Sinatra or any crooner
• The hands-down winner (loser), "Night Game" by Paul Simon ("There were two men out/and the score was tied/In the bottom of the eighth/When the pitcher died...")

So those are the selections to avoid. But choosing a winner is no easy proposition. Extra points for a local band -- but Bay Area chauvinism shouldn't weigh too heavily. It needs to appeal to most of the folks attending a baseball game (i.e. not skew too young) and needs to be upbeat. Again, your input is requested. Here's the best we can do on short notice:

• "Song 2" by Blur -- it's not complicated, but it gets people yelling;
• "The Thing That Should Not Be" by Metallica (or covered by Primus) -- probably too hard, and songs that contain the lyrics "Messneger of fear in sight/Dark deception kills the light/Hybrid children watch the sea/Pray for father roaming free" might confuse a baseball crowd with kids in tow. But this is a song that all but bursts into flames, and both Metallica and Primus are local; 
• "I'm Still Alive" by Pearl Jam -- edit out the depressing lyrics. Just focus on the still being alive part. 
• "High Hopes" -- Yeah, it's cheesy. But Journey isn't?