In 2013, Carrie Underwood took over as the resident country performer to kick off the Sunday Night Football season with her version of the theme song, “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night.” For nearly two decades, there have been several iterations of the song, which reworks Joan Jett‘s 1988 hit “I Hate Myself for Loving You,” themed to football and teams.
Underwood first premiered her version of “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” when she took over the football theme following Faith Hill‘s six-year run and has shared different iterations of the song throughout the past 11 years.
Videos by American Songwriter
[See Carrie Underwood: REFLECTION Live via StubHub — Tickets Selling Fast]
‘Hey Jack, It’s a Fact…’
The tie-in with Jett’s song started in 2006 when P!nk covered “I Hate Myself For Loving You” and reworded the song themed to football and Sunday night games. A year later, Hill took over as the annual performer, from 2007 through 2012, with the “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” theme song.
Pulling from Jett’s lyric—Hey Jack, it’s a fact they’re talkin’ in town—in her version, Underwood sings Hey Jack, it’s a fact, the show’s back in town, and mentions the teams playing instead of Jett’s more cross I turn my back and you’re messin’ around.
Waiting all day for Sunday night
Alright, what a night, it’s finally here
Sunday Night Football’s kicking into high gear
The stars have arrived
Come on, get up and cheer!
Hey Jack, it’s a fact, the show’s back in town
Steelers and the champs and a showdown
The stadium’s rockin’, time to crank up the sound
The NFL’s best have come to play
Coast to coast, just one thing left to say
I’ve been waiting all day for Sunday night
The tough get rough in a primetime fight
A hundred seasons strong and we’re doing it right
That’s why we’re waiting all day for Sunday Night
Multiple Versions
For the opening of the 2016 season, Underwood switched things up and recorded a new Sunday Night Football theme song, “Oh, Sunday Night,” which pulls from her 2014 No. 1 country duet with Miranda Lambert, “Somethin’ Bad.”
By 2018, Underwood used an original song, “Game On,” which she co-wrote with Brett James and Chris DeStefano before going back to “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” again from 2019 through 2023.
To keep the theme song fresh each year, Underwood records multiple versions of the song to fit all the possible pairings of the 32 NFL teams and on through the playoffs.
“It’s one main version, top to bottom, and then kind of filling in lines,” said Underwood. “When we go in to record, we do it all at once. I do the whole main version, but then we go through and pick up all the matchups for each week of regular-season football, and then we go into playoff football. And I then sing every possible combination of teams that could maybe play each other.”
Football Ties
A year after winning the fourth season of American Idol, Underwood performed during halftime at the 2006 Thanksgiving Day football game at Texas Stadium. That year, she also sang the “Star-Spangled Banner” at the NFC Championship Game between the Carolina Panthers and the Seattle Seahawks. Underwood also had a brief relationship with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo in 2007.
In 2024, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce thanked Underwood for helping him get ready for games with her songs.
“I think my favorite is when, it kind of dawns on me that it’s like, before these guys were playing in Sunday Night Football games, they were watching Sunday Night Football,” said Underwood. “It would’ve been the equivalent of me watching awards shows or people performing on TV, just being like, ‘Oh my gosh if I could only do that.’”
Underwood continued, “And I’ve been [recording the theme for] 11 years, so some of these guys were younger, watching these football games, just thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, if I could be on Sunday Night Football.’ And then, when they get there, I’m a little part of their journey, which is really cool.”
An Underwood Halftime Show?
Though Underwood has been the leading performer throughout the football season for more than a decade, she has never headlined the Super Bowl Halftime Show. The last time country artists were featured prominently during the Halftime Show was in 1994 when The Judds, Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, and Travis Tritt performed.
“That’s a lot of pressure,” said Underwood of one day headlining a Halftime show. “It would have to be just the right circumstances.”
Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission
