Lions-Packers Week 17 Song of the Game: “When I Paint My Masterpiece” by The Band

I lobbied for weeks to get a chance to contribute a song to to the Song of the Game collection. The guys finally caved in—likely out of annoyance. You ever have one of those moments when you hear a song and know that it is the perfect song for the time and place? Well, that’s what happened to me, and that’s why I had to get this one out there.

The Lions shutout the Packers 31-0 in Lambeau last Sunday and it was beautiful. It was a lot of fun and in some sick and twisted way, somebody out there could say it was a masterpiece. But don’t let the headline fool you. This isn’t the masterpiece I’m talking about.

Lions-Packers Song of the Game: When I Paint my Masterpiece by The Band

For my song of the game, I selected The Band’s—or Bob Dylan’s—When I Paint My Masterpiece. I personally like The Band’s version more, so I went with that one.

Oh, the hours I’ve spent inside the Coliseum.
Dodging lions and wastin’ time.
Oh, those mighty kings of the jungle, I could hardly stand to see ‘em.
Yes, it sure has been a long, hard climb.

I think it says a lot about the time we invest into this team and how it, at times, it can feel like we’re wasting time. At other times, it feels like we just can’t take it anymore. And then the last little bit is just perfect. Because as a Lions fan, it sure has been a long, hard climb.

Another reason I chose the song is because of my interpreted meaning of the song. To me, this is a song about a musician that is struggling to make it big. He tours around in beat up modes of transportation in search of his grand moment. His masterpiece, he says, will make everything alright once he paints it. His grand song that he’ll always be remembered for.

Doesn’t that fit the Lions perfectly? Here’s a team that’s struggling all the time and just can’t seem to get their moment in the sun. But we all know:

Someday, everything is gonna be smooth like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece.

For the Lions, that masterpiece is obviously a Super Bowl.

It’s everything to Lions fans. I’ve always believed it’s why we stick with the team through all the pain, because we know when the Lions finally paint their masterpiece, it’s going to be an ecstasy unknown to man. It’s going to be a high that we will feel once and never feel again. Even if the Lions win another one. There will only ever be that one masterpiece.

And so concludes our 2018 Song of the Season playlist. If you missed any of our selections, you can read all of our explanations here. Below is the full Spotify playlist of the year, and if you like what we’ve created, you can listen to our 2017 playlist here.