The 10 best fight songs in college football
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10. Texas, "Texas Fight"
The tune of "Texas Fight" is a faster version of "Taps." ("Blondie" Pharr, former director of the Longhorn band, wrote the lyrics to the song.) It's simple and effective.
9. Wisconsin, "On, Wisconsin"
William Purdy composed the tune for "On, Wisconsin" in 1909. The current, peppier version was introduced by band director Michael Leckrone in 1969. "I got a lot of flak for that," Leckrone told the school's website. "The old version was one you had to wait on. I wanted to generate immediate crowd reaction, so I stepped it up a bit."
8. USC, "Fight On"
USC dental student Milo Sweet composed "Fight On" in 1922. (Sweet and Glen Grant wrote the lyrics.) It's a classic, but USC also gets bonus points for adopting Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" as its unofficial fight song.
7. Navy, "Anchors Aweigh"
Composed by Lt. Charles Zimmerman (with lyrics by Alfred H. Miles), "Anchors Aweigh" debuted at the 1906 Army-Navy game. As the years passed, it became a pop culture staple. (For example: In 1945, Frank Sinatra starred in the musical Anchors Aweigh.)
6. Oklahoma, "Boomer Sooner"
OK, so the tune is borrowed from Yale's fight song, but the drum-heavy "Boomer Sooner" is still one of college football's most infectious fight songs. It also gets bonus points for being the intro music for former WWE announcer Jim Ross, an Oklahoma alum and diehard Sooners fan.
5. Georgia Tech, "Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech"
"Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" is the best titled, booziest and funniest song of the bunch. Sample lyrics:
Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear,
I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.
Also: Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev bizarrely sang "Ramblin' Wreck" together during the Kitchen Debate in 1959. Apparently the Soviet Premier knew the song fromThe Ed Sullivan Show.
4. Texas A&M, "War Hymn"
Supposedly written during World War I by soldier J.V. "Pinky" Wilson on the back of a letter from home, "War Hymn" is one of the more dramatic fight songs in college football.Then there's this: "After the second verse, Aggie fans link their arms and legs, and sway left and right to replicate the motion of a saw blade," to mimic the act of cutting off the horns of Texas's mascot. Hardcore.
3. Notre Dame, 'Victory March"
Written by brothers Michael and John Shea, the iconic Notre Dame "Victory March" was first performed on campus in 1909. Since then, you've probably heard it used in movies like Knute Rockne All American, Rudy and most memorably, Airplane.
2. Tennessee, "Rocky Top"
"Down the Field" is officially Tennessee's fight song, but it's "Rocky Top" that belongs here. The tune, written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and recorded by the Osborne Brothers, was first played at a Tennessee football game in 1972, and it became Tennessee's official state song in 1982. Bonus: Peyton Manning gets down to it.
1. Michigan, "The Victors"
The story of college football's greatest fight song began on Thanksgiving 1898. That day, Michigan beat University of Chicago 12-11 to cap an undefeated season and secure the school's first conference title.
To celebrate the mammoth road victory, music student Louis Elbel recalled years later, "We yelled and sang and followed our U. of M. band to the tune of 'Hot Time in the Old Town.'" But for Michigan, Elbel wanted a song that was a bit … bigger. In a Michigan Chimes article Elbel wrote in 1922, he explained what happened next:
It struck me quite suddenly that such an epic should be dignified by something more elevating for this was no ordinary victory. My spirits were so uplifted that I was clear off the earth, and that is when "The Victors" was inspired. To my thinking, Michigan Spirit needed a fitting paean, a clarion call — something simple but grand and heroic, something to let out on. Very shortly the strain of "Hail to the Victors" came to mind, and gradually the entire march. I am interested in the psychology of composing, but never have been able to answer satisfactorily just how a "tune" originates in my head. It is easy enough to make tunes, but sweeping, inspiring strains are not made — they flash unawares. And so it was with "The Victors."
Even if Elbel wasn't sure how he came up with it, "The Victors" became a classic of the genre.
It has just about everything: tradition, grandeur and a chorus that you will repeat over and over and over — even if it annoys friends who are Ohio State fans. Sing it with me now:Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan,
the leaders and best
Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan
the champions of the West.
(In the interest of full disclosure: Until I was 30, I thought it was "the champions of the world" not "the champions of the West." In the 1890s, Michigan played in the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives — also known as the Western Conference — which later became the Big Ten.)
But back to Elbel. After having his piece arranged, he approached none other than John Philip Sousa with it. The composer, the man behind "Stars and Stripes Forever" and a host of other patriotic standards, liked the song so much that he and his band performed it during their stop in Ann Arbor on April 8, 1899. "Under such wonderful auspices, before a crowded University Hall, the march created an enthusiasm that was sweeping," Elbel wrote. (According to a story written by Michigan alum Charles Kountz, Sousa once said that he "considered 'The Victors' one of the nation's finest military marches and the best original college song he had ever heard.")
The following May, Elbel recalled, the school band played the song when the baseball team returned from a successful road trip. "It had been my impression that 'The Victors' was my march song," wrote Elbel, who died in 1959, "but now a sort of feeling came over me that it belonged to Michigan, and I was exceedingly happy."
Over time, the song's legend has grown. President Gerald Ford, who played football at Michigan, preferred "The Victors" to "Hail to the Chief." In January 2007, the Michigan band played the song during his funeral procession.
"[It] has no peer in style," fight song expert Bill Studwell told author John Kryk for Natural Enemies, a book about the Michigan-Notre Dame rivalry. "The purpose of a fight song is to inspire emotion, and 'The Victors' is a proud, stirring song. If you've ever heard a hundred thousand people at Michigan Stadium sing it, well, it leaves you breathless."
"The Victors" always seems to stir up emotions and not always the pleasant kind. In 2012, the Red Hot Chili Peppers played a show in Columbus, Ohio, and drummer Chad Smith — who grew up in a suburb of Detroit — decided to have a little fun. After the band's encore, he grabbed the microphone and began singing "The Victors." The crowd promptly booed him, and he walked off the stage.
Honorable Mentions
Alabama, "Yea Alabama"; Army, "The Army Goes Rolling Along"; Clemson, "Tiger Rag"; Kansas, "I'm a Jayhawk"; LSU, "Fight for LSU"; Miami, "Miami U. How-Dee-Do"; Ohio State, "Across the Field"; Penn State, "Fight On, State"; San Diego State, "SDSU Fight Song"