THEBlackKeyshavealwaysbeen sportsfans,pepperingsongslike “Howlin’ For You” with sporting metaphors while rooting for the Cleveland Guardians baseball team and the Cleveland Browns NFLteam.Inadditiontotheirradio hits, they’ve also scored a few songs that have become between-inning standards, in particular “Lonely Boy.” “Wherevertheysellhotdogs,”says DanAuerbach,“thoseareourpeople. ”Inthatregard,“YourTeamIsLooking Good”isasurefirestadiumhit,a simple trash-talk chant soldered to arowdybluesjam.Itwasthelast song they recorded for Dropout Boogie,an impromptu addition that features backing vocals by Sierra FerrellandEarlyJames.
Auerbach explains the unusual origins of the song. “I got approached by this guy named Dr David Evans, who recorded a bunch of musicians in the late ’60s and into the ’70s and ’80s. He specialised in regional recordings from the South, and his collection was like his very own Library of Congress. He asked me if I was interested in hearing some tapes, and his assistant sent me a couple of recordings, just as examples. There were some blues songs, some hill country songs, some fife-and-drums songs. Some really amazing stuff. And there was this great recording from a high school in Senatobia, Mississippi, where these girls were singing this football chant: