By The Landlord
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again ... It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Much of what we consider valuable in our world arises out of (these) one-sided conflicts. Because the act of facing overwhelming odds, produces greatness and beauty.” – Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
“John Peel made his reputation with his radio show and his record label, Dandelion, by championing the underdog.” – Jimmy Page
“The cat will mew, and dog will have his day.” – Hamlet, William Shakespeare
Who doesn't love an underdog? The disadvantaged, the unfancied, the dark horse, the rebel, the worm who turns, the kid who defeats the bullies and gets the girl, that tale of rags to riches, of winning in adversity, from David vs Goliath to Cinderella vs the evil sisters, the one who triumphs against all odds.
In all walks of life these make for great stories, filled with arcs of ups and downs, heights of fist-clenching triumphs and lows of head-hanging despair, tapping into our inbuilt sense of justice and admiration for an indomitable spirit. Despite everything, it can always happen. We root for it. It makes us human.
So then, this week it's all about the underdog in song, whether that's with a narrative-based ballad, or a central emotion captured in the heart of the title or lyrics or even an instrumental that evokes such powerful feelings of overcoming all. The underdog may come from poverty, but any underprivileged or apparently weaker position, social class, and let’s not forget that for much of history – gender.
Underdogs might come in any situation where any kind of competing in life is required. Often the real and fictional can be interchangeable in a theatrical mix of myth and emotions, from sport to creative endeavours, social issues and situations, politics and revolutions.
In his study of the subject, as quoted above, author Malcolm Gladwell suggests “the fact of being an underdog changes people in ways that we often fail to appreciate. It opens doors and creates opportunities and enlightens and permits things that might otherwise have seemed unthinkable ... The underdog winning is the romantic position.”
But there's always more nuance to these stories than at first glance. The Judeo-Christian David and Goliath story of the Book of Samuel is the classic example, the small shepherd figure from the poorer, weaker Israelites against the imposing, wealth, weight and size of Philistines army. But Gladwell goes further into this, and others examples, analysing how the underdog may appear to have the odds all against them, but levels of expectation for the favourite can slightly level the playing the field, blunting their awareness, making them vulnerable, especially when the plucky underdog comes up with a novel way of attack in the form of a longer-distancer stone and sling to the forehead:
David and Goliath (1888) by Osmar Schindler
“What the Israelites saw, from high on the ridge, was an intimidating giant. In reality, the very thing that gave the giant his size was also the source of his greatest weakness. There is an important lesson in that for battles with all kinds of giants. The powerful and the strong are not always what they seem.” Often in battles then, it's surprise and original tactics that can upset the odds.
Are underdogs always heroic? Not necessarily. In Shakespeare's King Lear, Edmund is very much in that category, but as an illegitimate son of son of the Earl of Gloucester and the younger brother of Edgar, his ambition is brutally violent, treacherous and villainous. “I grow, I prosper; / Now, gods, stand up for bastards!” he exclaims. Some bastards may be underdogs, but are also … total bastards. See also Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones.
That said, the shock triumph of the underdog is most special and often positive, especially when it appears to happen suddenly or out of nowhere. But no underdog is made out of thin air. Underdogs often prepare for years for that surprise win. After all, many of eventual giant and favourites began as the unfancied underdog.
The young Muhammad Ali's 1964 shock defeat of Sonny Liston in the boxing ring is a good example. In his career he also seemed to capture the imagination and romance of being the favourite hero and underdog, sometimes in the same match.
Boxing is a prime area for the cultural and sporting underdog, fom the fictional Rocky Bilboa franchise to the real-life hero-and-villain equivalents, such as the troubled Jake La Motta Buster Douglas’s shock defeat of the apparently unstoppable Mike Tyson. Long before that Irish-American James J. Braddock beating Max Baer, for whom he was only supposed to be cannon fodder, created even greater surprise, eventually becoming the subject of the film Cinderella Man.
The documentary maker Asif Kapadia reckons that "boxing is made for film - there is corruption, violence, tragedy and the chance that the underdog can catch the champion with one lucky punch.”
But in the world of sport, there's many other famous events captured in songs and film, whether that be in football (Greece winning the European Championship or Leicester City the Premier League?) American football, baseball, or others. The film Miracle recreatest the story of the 1980 US college Olympic hockey team bearing the seemingly invincible Soviet Union. While the more comedic Cool Runnings tells the true story of the Jamaican Olympic bobsleigh team who, no surprise spoilers, but of course don't win, but even managing to compete with almost no resources makes for a fun slipping sliding ride of a Hollywood-ised story.
What are your favourite sporting underdog moments, and have they been captured in song?
The razzamataz of sport is at times form of performance that runs parallel with music. James Brown repeatedly acted this out on stage with his famous cape routine, fighting and coming back against the apparent odds (of hyped-up heartbreak and exhaustion) to continue Please Please Please and whip up the emotions of the crowd.
Fact and fiction certainly blur in the world of underdog, fuelled by empathy and pathos, and ambiguous positions, from Robin Hood to Dick Turpin. Charlie Chaplin's The Tramp (1915) is one of the 20th century's greatest such creations, tapping into a world of with plucky, earthy, physical humour and setting a blueprint for much of the rest of this career, as well as a formula, in silent or sound, for many other comedy actors from Laurel & Hardy to George Formby to Norman Wisdom to many more.
Film’s first underdog hero? Charlie Chaplin in The Tramp
There are many films that might inspire some song ideas across many contexts. The Rocky series created a surefire hit for boxing, but there's also Chariots of Fire, set around two runners - Scotland's Eric Liddell and England's Harold Abrahams overcoming various disadvantages to win their races at the 1924 Paris Olympics.
Fancy a flutter on the famous undersized racing horse Seabiscuit?
On a documentary level, perhaps it's worth shooting for the excellent 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams, following hopefuls in the tough world of professional basketball. But in a highly competitive world where the odds are stacked against you, not every talented underdog has his day.
Or in a more edgy, comedic sporting fictional context, Dodgeball, or the tenpin bowling movie Kingpin?
Prison movies are often set around underdogs overcoming the odds. Perhaps there's something to find in The Shawshank Redemption, Cool Hand Luke, or Papillon, based on the true story of Henri Charrière, a French convict who was wrongly imprisoned on Devil's Island in the 1930s.
Or perhaps Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. Underdogs don’t always survive to succeed …
School is a primary playground for the bullied or nerdy underdog. Can Napoleon Dynamite and his Mexican friend triumph against the odds?
Does the rags-to-riches of Slumdog Millionaire ask all the right questions
Also in school, but also in rock'n'roll, how might Jack Black's failed musician do in the classroom?
But perhaps we might also strike out with a dance against the establishment's fixed competition, in Baz Luhrmann's brilliant Strictly Ballroom in which favourite and underdog come together as heartthrob Scott decides to find a new partner in the form of unknown learner Fran... but what will happen during the paso doble final?
When then, are underdogs real, or just pretending? All these questions and more to consider, as now it’s over to you now to persuade this week's judge, in the form of the excellent returning Loud Atlas, that your song can also overcome all odds of making this week’s playlist. Good luck.
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