Exclusive with Roger Wood, Writer of “Here We Go”

Tell us a bit about yourself – how you got involved in songwriting and what else you are involved in?

Oh wow – I wrote the song back in 1994 – that was 28 years ago! I wrote it the year before they went to the Super Bowl – the year they lost to San Diego in the championship game.  It was short-lived because we lost, but it took off in ’95 and got more popular then!

It’s not so exciting, but I also own some properties – some rental and investment properties.

What prompted your interest in writing a Steelers fight song?

When I was younger I played in a few bands – nothing big. It was just a hobby for me. When I was in my 30’s I started playing again and writing music and the song just really popped in my head. There wasn’t a good fight song in a while written for the Steelers so I decided I’d write one! Back then they’d play songs on the radio when people sent them in sometimes, so I figured I’d send mine in and maybe they’d play it once or twice.

How has your approach to updating and marketing the song changed over the years with new technologies/changes to the way music is made and listened to?

It’s a lot easier for sure! Now when I update a song my son just uploads it online. Then that’s it and everyone has it. My son handles that – I understand it but he knows it better. Both of my sons are musicians – one has a studio. My younger son is the drummer for the band Black Bear.

My wife – she’s the most musical of all of us. I’m the least so – we’ll just leave it at that!

A lot of people may not realize how much work you and your wife put in to scraping up the money and effort to record that first version…did it feel like a risk?

Absolutely. At the very beginning I made 25 cassettes of the song and sent it to the local TV and radio stations. They played it and told me people wanted to know where to get it. I figured, what, 10 or 12 people?

At the time I figured I’d make 100-to-200 copies and sell them, but the cost breakdown made more sense if I made 2,000 copies. I drove 1,000 to the National Record Mart hub and they distributed them to their stores. The other 1,000 I delivered all across the city to various Phar-Mor drug stores.

It was a lot of hustle.  I remember driving down and talking to the lead buyer at KMart later on. He wanted to hear the song, so I played the cassette in my car and he ended up buying 2,000 of them.

How do you go about deciding how and when to update the song now?

I normally do it at the end of the season. If it’s all going well and looking good, I’ll do it by the end of November or early December. The main reason I wait until then is that years ago the Steelers had a kicker – Gary Anderson. When he left the Steelers brought in an other kicker – Biasucci – but he didn’t last long so they brought in another kicker, Norm Johnson. But I made 2,000 cassettes with Biasucci’s name in the song, so I had to change them all.

The line with the defensive linemen’s names all have to mesh well too and flow together. So I wait until November or December when everything is set.

What are the changes you’re looking to make this season – what steps do you plan to take?

The most obvious is at quarterback. Roethlisberger was there for 17 years! Who knows now. It’ll probably by Trubisky, but maybe by November it’ll be Pickett. Who knows. That’s why I hold off until then.

There are some other fight songs – what makes this one stand out so much?

It’s just catchy. The beat and rhythm – it’s easy to sing. You don’t have to be a singer to sing it. Look – I’m no crooner!

It’s more like a cheer. It’s catchy. I know some people say catchy songs aren’t so great. But I think there’s something to be said about a song that’s catchy. If it’s catchy and people sing it, it’s good. And it’s like Christmas carols too. You only hear them at certain times of the year, then they go away. That makes them special and is also why I think it’s lasted. You don’t hear it all the time. It’s just at certain, fun times of the year.

Would you ever do one for other Pittsburgh teams?

Believe it or not I did one for the Penguins in the 90’s. It was ok. The Penguins reached out to me and they made a video out of it. They had local celebrities in the video – Mr. Rogers and local sports guys were in it. It was called “Let’s Go Pens!”

But other than that, no. I just redo the Steelers song and that’s it.

Have players ever gotten involved or offered feedback/comments?

Ha, not directly no. I was on the Bettis and Ward shows and they knew the song and would want to see who was in it. Hines and I talked about being “song worthy.” A rookie has to be really good to get in!

What have been the toughest names to rhyme/work with over the years?

I always talk about it. Kimo Von Oelhoffen – there isn’t a less singable name than his! It has no flow and it’s hard to rhyme. Unfortunately that’s why he was never in the song!

A great name was Troy Polamalu. It’s a beautiful name that just flows. He was the fist guy on the second line for the defense every year.

And Roethlsbeger – that was a tough one. You had to be careful when you sang it – to annunciate it well or it sounded wrong. But I don’t have to worry about that one anymore.

What about on this current team?

Last year we talked about it – Najee Harris. There’s always the line with the running back. When Bettis was there it was “We go to Bettis when we need a touchdown.” With Najee we didn’t want to use “Harris” and have people think about Franco. So we put Najee in there instead. Sometimes first names are more singable and interesting.

JuJu Smith-Schuster too. It’s hard to use Smith-Schuster, so I used JuJu instead. That fits any rhythm!

Lastly, any great personal Steelers memories/experiences that stand out to you?

The best was the championship game versus the Jets before the Steelers last Super Bowl. The team sent me tickets. It was a home game and real cold. When they won they played Black and Yellow by Wiz Khalifa – that was real big then. But after 20 or 30 seconds they put “Here We Go” on and the whole stadium started singing it. That will always be my best memory. Everyone didn’t know all the versus, but you could still sing some of it!

Read more by former Steelers via the book Steelers Takeaways: Player Memories Through the Decades.  To order, just click on the book: