Jimmy Truschel: the Pitt graduate and his guitar put Greensburg on the map, sort ofBy Dylan Nice / Editor-in-chief

Former UPG student Jimmy Truschel is now relatively famous after the song he wrote for the Pittsburgh Penguins playoff run has received playing time on the Kiss FM 96.1 Morning Freak Show.

The song’s format has some similarities to the Steelers' "Here We Go," but Truschel's acoustic song develops its own style of praises and quips of the Penguins roster, and ties it together with a melodic chorus.

Truschel wrote the song last year and posted it on YouTube where it was discovered by the radio station. The station posted it to their Web site with a message saying to contact them if anyone knew who wrote it.

Truschel e-mailed them and dispelled a false tip claiming the author of the song was Canadian. Truschel was told the radio station would play the song.

They did - one time. But later that same day the Penguins lost to the Senators and were eliminated from the playoffs, so no one wanted to hear it anymore.

Truschel was asked by Kiss FM to modify the lyrics for this season’s roster, but he didn’t mind reworking the song.

“I really like the Penguins and I really like writing songs,” he said. “So I wrote a song about the Penguins.”

He said he was partly motivated by the notion the Penguins had been neglected in contrast to all the songs written about the Steelers.

Truschel said he thinks the radio station is playing it pretty frequently and has plans to send it off to other radio stations.

The first morning it played on Kiss FM at 8:45 a.m., Jimmy told his co-workers at Parkvale Bank he was going to be on the radio.

“As soon as I got into work, I turned it on and they played it,” he said. They all sat around and listened. The disc jockey explained the history behind the song and called him Joe instead of Jimmy.

“They just knew it was a J name,” he said.

Aside being played on the radio, the song has no formal title outside of Penguins Playoff Song 2008. On the song's Youtube page, the comments are nearly all positive. Some user comments bash the song and the team.

YouTube user matador8690 wrote, “This is seriously the worst song I've ever heard in my life.”

Nay-saying bullfighters, however, don’t hurt Truschel’s feelings.

“I think hardcore Penguins fans like the song,” he said. “And everyone else hates it. I think if I weren’t a Penguin fan I would find it incredibility annoying.”

Truschel said he’s not sure if the song will ever become as widespread as the Steelers’ “Here We Go” song. But the format is similar and people seem to be getting a kick out of it.

A line that suggests Gary Roberts wasn’t injured, but instead imprisoned for beating up Chuck Norris, is one of people’s favorites, according to Truschel.

He said he wasn’t sure about including Norris in the song.

“I almost didn’t do it because I thought it would be too cheap,” he said. “Almost everyone makes Chuck Norris jokes, but people seem to like it.”

A reference to Colby Armstrong, Maxime Talbot, Sergei Gonchar and Evgeny Malkin’s A & L Motor Sales commercial gets chuckles too, he said.

Truschel honed his craft as a freshman and sophomore at UPG, playing in Fireside Lounge and then the coffee house when it was first opened. Though Wed. April 9, the 2008 playoff song has about 2,000 hits on Youtube. Back at the coffee house the crowds had been much thinner.

“There’d be like 10 people,” Truschel said.

Truschel said he didn’t know if his song would ever get the kind of clout as some of the compositions about the Steelers, but he’s enjoying the success so far.

“It’s cool to be played on the radio,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s encouraging for the pursuit of a musical career, but getting on the radio is awesome.”

For the video, click here.