I love that the World Wide Web is the location of the greatest music swap in history. While I often actively gripe about the evil machinations of the RIAA, I’ll also concede that I get why they don’t particularly care for it. When an organization’s entire mandate is to squeeze every potential penny out of consumers for fat cat executives–don’t kid yourself for a moment that the RIAA is actually looking out for the artists; that “I” is for “Industry”–then seeing the new Kanye West record pop up for free on a fleet of sites before it’s even legally available for sale has to be akin to watching a cash register deflate. But finding new music isn’t the reason I appreciate the sharing instinct of Web denizens. Instead, it’s the shocking availability of material that would otherwise be completely lost to all but the heartiest memories, those songs and albums that don’t hold enough broad appeal or interest to make it feasible for labels to manufacture means to purchase them.

All the above is a long way of saying I’m glad my pleas to the digital Wild West have resulted in my ability to bring you Jerry Reed’s “Bandit Ball.” More precisely, I’m glad I can deliver “Bandit Ball” to my friend Jon. When he kindly contributed a guest post to this site, I noted in the introduction the strong desire he had to get his ears on a certain song recorded by country legend Reed. Over two years later, a generous commenter and fellow hunter provided the pathway to sonic riches. “Bandit Ball” had been found.

For the uninitiated, “Bandit Ball” was the theme song for the Tamba Bay Bandits, a team in the short-lived United States Football League. This particular squad was co-owned by Burt Reynolds, then about as big of a movie star as there was (although the first year of the USFL was also the year Reynolds’s film career started going downhill in a big, big hurry). When Reynolds wanted a rousing anthem for the fledgling team, he needed look no further than his Smokey and the Bandit costar. And that’s how you get “Bandit Ball.”

The sound quality isn’t great, but it’s here. Jerry Reed singing about football for a team partially owned by Burt Reynolds. The only way it could hit my friend Jon’s sweet spot for beautiful ridiculousness better would be if Reed was wearing Kiss makeup while he sang it. Maybe we can all imagine that together.

Listen or download –> Jerry Reed, “Bandit Ball”

(Disclaimer: I can’t really need to type this up this time, do I? I’ve been looking for this song ever since Jon referred to it as his holy grail in a response to a livejournal “Five for Friday” post years ago. There’s no way to buy this. I’m confident of that. Go to you favorite local, independently-owned record store, ask for Jerry Reed’s “Bandit Ball” and see what happens. I’ll take it down if I’m asked to do so by anyone with a legitimate claim on the song, but come on!)