Oscar Gandarilla called his son out of school Thursday in Rawlins, Wyo., and the father-son duo made the trek south to Coors Field — all to hear snippets of a single song one last time.

Yes, the 36-year-old Denver native wanted to get a final in-person glimpse of his favorite Rockies player, Charlie Blackmon — the bearded, hard-nosed, sweet-swinging left-hander who’s called Coors Field home for 14 seasons.

But it was more than that as Blackmon, 38, was set to retire on Sunday. Gandarilla wanted affirmation that “Josie’s on a vacation far away.” He needed to hear his fellow fans belt, “You know I like my girls a little bit older.” And as he and his son drove down I-25, bumping and crooning “Your Love” on repeat, there was only one word on his mind.

“We drove three-and-a-half hours for one last time to yell ‘Toniiiiight!’” Gandarilla admitted with a laugh. “We know how important Charlie is to the Rockies nation, but we also know how special that moment is when he walks up to the plate.

“… Coors Field will definitely feel different without that walk-up. So we’re going to sing it very loud today because we just want to capture this feeling a few more times.”

For the last 14 years, “Your Love” — a classic pop-rock track by the English band The Outfield — hasn’t just been Blackmon’s walk-up song. It’s become a Coors Field anthem that will be forever ingrained within the culture of LoDo baseball.

The song, released five months before Blackmon was born in 1986, has been intertwined with Chuck Nazty since his days at Georgia Tech. He began using it there in 2008 when he broke out as a hitter after washing out as a pitcher. It’s followed him ever since, through the minors and for all 3,445-plus plate appearances at Coors Field.

He’s never thought about changing it.

“I think about baseball, and you know, I get romantic about the game,” Blackmon said. “And I know how important that song is for me and my career. And I think about the interaction. I mean, it’s rare that you see that kind of interaction with a fan base and a player, in a stadium. It’s just an incredible song.

“… I initially chose it because I just really liked the song, and I was super into the 80s (rock), and it was one of those classic songs. I didn’t want to be chasing something new and different and have to update my song every year. I played well at Georgia Tech while using that, so I figured if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it, so I just kept it going. Here we are, still using it.”

And now here Rockies fans are, wondering how different Coors Field will sound when it goes away, even as Blackmon’s teammate and Denver native Kyle Freeland asserts that the song “is going to live in this stadium forever.”

No matter the trials and tribulations of the Rockies — no matter the rare playoff appearances, lack of a division title or Coors Field being consistently overrun by opposing fanbases — “Your Love” remains the ultimate purple-pinstripe vibe.

The handful of seconds it plays each time Blackmon marches into the box is amnesia for the franchise’s bad times and magnification of the good ones. It is the dopamine rush wrapped into a few scintillating, addictive bars.

“It’s something that we have as Rockies fans — it’s ours, no matter what the score is on the field, no matter what our record is or what the standings look like,” said 67-year-old Tracey Dawson of Parker, who attended the club’s inaugural game at Mile High Stadium in 1993 and has witnessed the few highs, and many lows, since. “Visiting fans are not going to sing it, they don’t know its importance, they don’t care. But we do. It’ll always be our moment for the home fans.

“So next year, when it won’t be playing, it’s going to matter.”

It’s not just at Coors Field where the local connection to “Your Love” — a song about a guy wooing a girl over for a one-night stand while his girlfriend, Josie, is out of town — runs deep. Adult themes be damned, kids who love Blackmon’s beard, eyeblack and longballs have an affinity for screaming out toniiiiight. And as walk-up songs cemented themselves into the youth baseball scene, the track’s emerged as a popular walk-up in local Little Leagues and on the tournament circuit.

Just ask the Augustine brothers, a pair of ballplayers from Fort Collins who came out to multiple games this week for Blackmon’s last hurrah. They might be young, but they’re old enough to know the emotional significance of “Your Love.”

“It pumps us up,” Otis, 7, said. “Always.”

“Yeah, and you get to yell out the last word as loud as you can,” added Teddy, 5. “That’s the best part.”

In the Augustine car during summer, Blackmon’s walk-up vibe is omnipresent.

“We get in the car before we go to baseball practice or baseball anything, and they demand to put on ‘Your Love,’” said the boys’ dad, Nick Augustine. “It gets them in the zone.”

MLB mandated shorter walk-up songs in 2023 as part of the league’s pace-of-play measures, cutting the music from 15 seconds down to 10. But that hasn’t put a damper on the widespread impact of Blackmon’s signature track.

Depending on the situation, the song can run longer, but even when it’s at its shortest version — often cutting out the end of the chorus line — the crowd fills in the toniiiiight on their own.

Some Rockies diehards, such as Lakewood’s Christine Bell, prefer the longer walk-up. But no matter how much of the song gets played, the 48-year-old says that as soon as that catchy electric guitar riff starts to blare, she’s all eyes on the batter’s box. Even if that means dashing from a concessions line on the concourse. Even if she’s … in the bathroom.

“As long as my pants are up,” Bell quipped, “I’ll rush out.”

As special as the song is to fans, it’s also deeply personal to Blackmon. And not just because of the bond that it’s formed between him and the Coors Field faithful. The first line of the song lives on in his life, forever, through his oldest child: His and his wife, Ashley’s, 3-year-old daughter. Her birth name is Josettee. But she goes by Josie.

A coincidence, Blackmon insists. Or maybe not.

“We were looking for a name and we wanted something strong, so when she grows up and gets in business or whatever, she would have something strong and recognizable,” Ashley Blackmon explained. “Then we thought, ‘Why don’t we just call her Josie?’  Then I asked Charlie, ‘But do you think it’s a bad name if people think we named her after your song?’

“He said, ‘No, that’s so cool. It makes it special.’”

After Sunday, “Your Love” might never be played again as a walk-up song over the Coors Field speakers. But the Blackmons will always have Josie. Rockies fans will forever hold the memories of the 802 games the song appeared in, and the home runs and hits it preceded. And we all will always have toniiiiight. 

Denver Post reporter Patrick Saunders contributed to this report.

Nine more notable Coors Field walk-up and entry songs

Larry Walker – “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne

Ryan Spilborghs – “Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani

Andrés Galarraga – “The Pink Panther Theme” by Henry Mancini

Dante Bichette — “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel

Carlos Estévez – “Wild Thing” by X (entry song)

Trevor Story – “Thief” by Ookay

Vinny Castilla – “El Matador” by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs

Scott Oberg — “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin (entry song)

Todd Helton — “Springsteen” by Eric Church

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Originally Published: September 27, 2024 at 1:50 p.m.