The National Football League and ESPN are turning to The Real King of Rock ‘n’ Roll to spark more interest in their end-of-week product, Monday Night Football. Starting on Monday, September 14th, the late Little Richard will serve as the sound of Monday Night Football with a retooled version of his 1956 hit, “Rip It Up”, opening the show.
The new version of “Rip It Up” will feature new instrumentation and backing vocals from Butcher Brown, a Virginia-based “garage punk jazz funk” quintet. “Rip It Up” replaces Hank Williams Jr.‘s “All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight”, which served as MNF‘s theme song from 1989-2011, and then again from 2017-2019.
Much like Hank Williams’ song, the Little Richard track will feature some lyric changes, tailoring the song to the Monday Night Football programming. Instead of Little Richard’s original, “‘Cause it’s Saturday night and I’m feelin’ fine,” the new version will change it to “Monday.”
ESPN said in a press release that they will combine NFL and team highlights with the song for the television audience.
Butcher Brown commented on the collaboration in a statement provided by ESPN, “We’re truly excited to have teamed up with ESPN for this project, and are honored to have had the opportunity to work with the music of the King of Rock N’ Roll, Little Richard.”
Below, listen to the new version of “Rip It Up”, and click here for more listening and purchase options.
Little Richard ft. Butcher Brown – “Rip It Up”
[Video: Little Richard]
[H/T Huffpost]