In 2006, P!nk covered Joan Jettthe 1988 hit “I Hate Myself For Loving You” and rephrased the lyrics themed around football season and Sunday night games. The song “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” has remained the staple theme song of Sunday Night Footballwhich will take place throughout the season.
To better cater to football fans, P!nk transformed Jett’s lyrics from the original opening. Midnight, I’m tense, where are you? / You said you’d meet me, now it’s a quarter to two / I know I’m hanging around but I still want you / Hey Jack, it’s a fact that they’re the talk of the town / I turn my back and you mess around / I don’t get jealous, I don’t like looking like a clown to something more NFL friendly:
Alright Sunday evening, where are you?
I just relax on the things you do
You want the Big Game, we want it too!
Hey Jack, it’s a fact, the best show in town
Sunday Night Football, we’re not kidding
Al and John will make you turn up the volume
One year later, Hill of Faith took over as annual performer, from 2007 to 2012, and performed her version of “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” before Carrie Underwood became the NFL’s resident artist in 2013.
For the past 11 years, Underwood has primarily performed “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” with altered lyrics and to accommodate the teams that were playing, except for two years when she introduced new theme songs into the seasonal mix.
Here’s a look at Underwood’s three NFL theme songs over the years.
1. “Wait all day on Sunday evening”
In 2013, Carrie Underwood took over as the NFL’s resident performer and kicked off the Sunday Night Football season with her version of “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night.” To keep the theme song fresh each year, Underwood records multiple versions of the song to fit every possible pairing of all 32 NFL teams and throughout the playoffs.
“It’s a master version, top to bottom, then filled lines” said Underwood.. “When we record, we do it at the same time. I do all of the main version, but then we go through and grab all the games from each week of regular season football, and then we move on to the playoffs. And then I sing about all the possible combinations of teams that could possibly compete against each other.
2. “Oh, Sunday night”
For the 2016 season opener, Underwood changed things up and recorded a new Sunday Night Football theme song, “Oh, Sunday Night,” which draws from his 2014 No. 1 hit with Miranda Lambert“Something bad.” When Underwood took over singing the NFL theme song in 2013, NBC told her they were open to new song ideas, so she started playing around with the lyrics to “Somethin’ Bad” and featured a demo of “Oh, Sunday Night” at the network.
(RELATED: The Story Behind Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert-Inspired ‘Somethin’ Bad’)
To rework the song, Underwood collaborated with his “Somethin’ Bad” co-writers, Brett James, Chris DeStefano and Priscilla Renea, to rewrite the lyrics.
“There’s such a kick, a ‘We Will Rock You’ sort of feel,” said Underwood.. “It’s such an energetic song.”
3. “Game”
In 2018, Underwood changed things up again with an original song: “Game enabled”, which she co-wrote with Brett James and Chris DeStefano. “We wrote a new song for it, because I feel like they’re still open to it and they’re always looking for ways to freshen things up,” said Underwood.. “So they always say, Hey, if you have anything else there, whatever you’re working on, bring it. » We’ll see what we think.
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That year, Underwood also co-wrote “The Champion” with Ludacris, Brett James and Chris Destefano. Also featuring Ludacris, the song was released as the opening theme to Super Bowl LII.
Underwood stepped aside to sing “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” for the 2019 to 2024 seasons.
Photo: Erika Goldring/Getty Images for CMT
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