One week after his firing shocked the National Hockey League, former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke has become the subject of a song by a Peterborough, Ontario musician.
The song, written by Wray Ellis and clocking in at about two and a half minutes, is a laid-back country tune currently on the musician's site and called "The Ballad Of Brian Burke." The music is from a song Ellis originally wrote entitled "Someone Else's Problem Now" but changed the lyrics to suit the Burke firing.
"I had a real sweet ride/All Toronto on my side/With my silver locks and a private box/No one was cooler than I," Ellis sings before the second verse begins. "Until one January day/Someone called me up to say/Gee I think you're really swell but the board says go to hell/Other than that how is your day."
Burke was let go on Jan. 9, 10 days before the NHL's 2013 regular season was set to begin.
"It's someone else's problem now/I'll learn to get along somehow," Ellis sings to open the chorus, adding Burke is now eating crow instead of lobster.
"I had a real sweet deal/My two hands upon the wheel," the lyrics continue before Ellis sings about the moral Burke has learned from the firing, but a moral Burke won't tell anyone about. The ballad also pokes fun at Burke's rather acrimonious relationship with the media, referring to press scrums with "you bums" before adding Burke will take questions from any reporters whose IQ is "higher than the air temperature at ice level."
It's doubtful the music will be used when the Maple Leafs skate out onto the ice for their home opener at Air Canada Centre on Jan. 21 against the Buffalo Sabres.