The Sing-A-Long Beer Vendor

You've hummed along to the booming, lyric-less sounds of Gioachino Rossini's "William Tell Overture.'' But beer vendor Mark Reiner decided he wanted to sing along too.

"Beer, get a beer, get a Bud/Bud Light right here, who needs a beer?'' he sings to the familiar tune.

You may have even heard the 55-year-old social studies teacher turned "Singing Vendor" belting out his own version while working at  Cubs and White Sox games.

"A couple of people kind of laughed and one guy said, 'Gimme a beer,'" Reiner told the Sun-Times. "I was trying to differentiate myself some way, and it got me some regulars.''

Reiner been working on his repertoire over the last five years. Seems the job at Wrigley and U.S. Cellular Field that he's had since 1973 needed a little more excitement.

He also has his beer-inspired versions of the Monkees "Pleasant Valley Sunday" and an original take on carding fans sung to the Village People's "YMCA."

"Young man, won't you show some ID/I said, young man, or else I will flee,'' he sings.

Reiner broke into the rewrite business in 2004 with a Sox version based on Magglio Orndonez' theme song, changing "Oh-wee-oh, Magglio'' to "Oh-wee-oh, Miller beer.''

"It's all hit or miss when you walk out there,'' Reiner told the Sun-Times.. "There's been days where I'll walk out and sell to 12 people right away. There's other days when you won't sell to one person. A lot of it is luck of the draw.''

Copyright SunTimes

Leave Comments