There are a lot of strange Steeler songs floating around right now, but for the past dozen years or so the staple has been the "Here We Go" song. I couldn't find an updated version in time for the AFC title game, but finally on Tuesday one showed up online. I'd been wondering what tweaks we would see from last year's version--let's take a look...

(Note that I'm not transcribing dialect, because most native speakers of English probably can't read 'Burghese; last year's abandoned lyrics are struck, and changes are bold)

Verse 1:
Cheer the Steelers, the Black and the Gold
This town of Pittsburgh's heart and soul
With Cowher power we'll get the job done
This is the year we'll get that one for the thumb.

Chorus:
Here we go
Here we go
Here we go, Steelers, here we go
Pittsburgh's going to the Super Bowl!

So far no changes--in fact, no changes from the original 1994 version of the song. This is the basic commonality over time.

Verse 2:
Roethlisberger is ready to throw win
To With Ward, Randle El and Plaxico Cedric Wilson
We'll go to Bettis when we need The Bus, Duce, and Willie will make a touchdown
And if you get in his their way he's their gonna knock you around.

I have to give props, sort of, for the solution in the first line. I thought the second line could just be changed to "With Ward, Wilson (or, Miller) and Randle El." Yes, "El" doesn't rhyme with "throw," but it's not like we're updating Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band here, people. But "winning" is what Roethlisberger does just as much as "throwing," so it's a fine solution. "Ced" is one syllable too many, but they sort of solve that by making the "and" an "'n'".

The second pair of lines has a few more problems. One is that it breaks the "rhythm" of the song, spilling into the previous "Here we go." The other is that Duce was active for 5 games and had one unmemorable touchdown on the year. Take out "Duce," and the line actually fits. Or, you could just leave the line as is, since Bettis is still the big scoring guy. And "make a touchdown" just sounds weak.

Verse 3:
Now the offense is ready to score
And there's one thing we know for sure
If we don't get it in the end zone
We'll get three points off of Jeff Reed's toe.

No changes here. I might have skipped it, but now I'm 40% rather than 25% of the hits you'll get if you Google "get three points off of Jeff Reed's toe." Suck on that organicEmmy and marzy23!!

Verse 4:
We got Porter, Bell and Farrior, Porter, Haggans
Polamalu, Scott Hope and Townsend
The other team won't gain any ground
Because the defense is gonna bring the Steel Curtain down.

Until I typed it, I didn't realize this change simply made two lists of three players into one list of six players. Now it bugs me less. The loss of the "and" confused me at first, but now it makes more sense. They could've gone simpler with "Porter, Foote and Haggans," but I think most people would rather squeeze in Farrior--though Foote was the team's leading tackler this year, and has been generally underappreciated. The method of unpersoning Chad Scott was not unexpected, although I could've also seen "Ike and Townsend," but apparently now RBs are identified by first name and defenders by surname. Fair enough. The most obvious exclusion is Casey Hampton, but nose tackles are used to being ignored, so I'm sure it's OK.

All in all, the song doesn't hang together quite as well as last year's, but when you lose an RW like Plaxico, you're going to have an adjustment period. (That's Rhyming Word, not a typo.)

Still, it's provided me a great source of obsessive nervous energy release, and I'll probably listen to it something like 73 times in the next two days.