OT: Fight songs (other than The Victors) you like?

Submitted by DISCUSS Man on

Slow day and slow times round these parts. Hump day post-work banter time.

Obviously we all know The Victors is the best fight song ever written (as said by John Phillip Sousa). But what other college fight songs do you admire?

I think one that has always had a good tune was northwestern's. I also am really fond of Montana's-

 

justingoblue

June 5th, 2013 at 8:20 PM ^

The bottom was all blocked out from comments. I would have moved comments if that was possible, but that's pretty much not an option for moderators. If anyone really wants a particular comment reposted, leave a comment here and I'll make sure that happens, but individually I'd say it would take about 45-60 minutes to repost the entire thread.

Again, sorry. If someone has a better idea for fixing the original I will gladly listen and see what's possible for this or for the future.

In the spirit of the thread, is there a school in the US that does anything to the tune of Auld Lang Syne? I think that would be pretty cool for whatever random reason.

LSAClassOf2000

June 5th, 2013 at 8:34 PM ^

Thanks mainly to movies, there are a few that that sit below "The Victors" as rather interesting for me. I would have to list Notre Dame's, as somehow it fit so well into the fabric of "Airplane!", for example - I still get chills when Leslie Nielsen's character talks about his last moments with George Zip. Because I really enjoyed Disney's "Robin Hood" growing up, I latched onto Wisconsin's fight song as well since it is the background music for one of the funnier (and it is essentially a minute of solid RB play from a hen) scenes in the movie.

DISCUSS Man

June 5th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^

A lot of people don't realize that from 1907-1916, Varsity was Michigan's official fight song. 

The Victors was de-emphasized due to the "Champions of the West" line and Michigan being out of the Western Conference. 

I guess we can thank the B1G for something. Inviting us back in. Due to popular belief, Michigan was actually voted out of the conference due to them not wanting to adhere to the new rules. I think the rules had to do with recruiting, the ones they were so angry about.

Also, here is a nifty excerpt from Natural Enemies: Michigan vs Notre Dame by Jon Kyrk. I occasionally sing these at games when the MMB plays The Victors and get strange looks-

 

There were also, an alternate set of lyrics (of The Victors) that were found in University athletic files circa the 1920s. It is not known if Elbel or someone else wrote them-

Hail! to our Alma Mater!
Hail! to dear old Ann Arbor!
Hail! Hail to Michigan
The Athens of the West!

 

 

 

jmblue

June 6th, 2013 at 11:19 AM ^

I'm pretty sure we chose to leave the Western Conference, and not the other way around.  Yost did not like the newly formed NCAA's  recommendations regarding scheduling (only five games per year, IIRC), which the league adopted.  In any event, the league readmitted us without any fuss when we asked a decade later.

 

Yeoman

June 5th, 2013 at 9:31 PM ^

That WPI fight song has also been attributed to MIT and I'm pretty sure that's where it started.

But they have another that I think has everyone beat. The lyrircs seem to grow without bound--here's a fairly current version I found at the school's website:

 

Godiva was a lady who through Coventry did ride

To show to the royal villagers her fair and pure white hide.

The most observant man of all, an engineer of course,

Was the only man who noticed that Godiva rode a horse.



CHORUS:

We are, we are, we are, we are, we are the engineers.

We can, we can, we can, we can demolish forty beers.

Drink rum, drink rum, drink rum all day and come along with us.

For we don't give a damn for any old man who don't give a damn for us!



She said "I've come a long, long way, and I shall go as far

With the man who takes me from this horse and leads me to a bar."

The men who took her from her steed and led her to her beer

Were a bleary eyed surveyor and a drunken engineer.

(chorus)



My father was a miner from the Northern Malamute,

My mother was a mistress in a house of ill repute.

The last time that I saw them, these words rang in my ears,

"GO TO MIT YOU SON OF A BITCH AND JOIN THE ENGINEERS!!!"

(chorus)



Princeton's run by Wellesley, Wellesley's run by Yale

Yale is run by Vassar, and Vassar's run by tail

Harvard's run by stiff pricks, the kind you raise by hand.

But MIT's run by engineers, the finest in the land.

(chorus)



MIT was MIT when Harvard was a pup.

And MIT will be MIT when Harvard's time is up.

And any Harvard son of a bitch who thinks he's in our class

Can pucker up his rosy lips and kiss the beaver's ass.

(chorus)



An artsman and an Engineer once found a gallon can,

Said the artsman "Match me drink for drink, let's see if you're a man."

They drank three drinks, the artsman falls, his face was turning green,

But the Engineer drank on and said "It's only gasoline."

(chorus)



The Army and the Navy went out to have some fun.

They went down to the taverns where the fiery liquors run.

But all they found were empties, for the engineers had come,

And traded all their instruments for gallon kegs of rum.

(chorus)



Venus was a statue made entirely of stone.

Without a stitch upon her, she was naked as a bone.

On seeing that she had no clothes, an engineer discoursed:

"Why the damn thing's only concrete, and should be reinforced!"

(chorus)



Rapunzel let her hair down for two suitors down below,

So one of them could grab a hold and give the old heave-ho.

The Prince began to climb at once, but soon came out the worst,

For the Engineer rode the elevator and reached Rapunzel first.

(chorus)



Caesar set out for Egypt at the age of fifty three,

But Cleopatra's blood was warm, her heart was young and free.

And every night when Julius said goodnight at three o'clock,

There was a Roman engineer waiting just around the block!

(chorus)



An engineer once staggered in though the Roderick Gate,

He was carrying a load you would expect to ship by freight.

The only thing that kept him upright and on his course,

Were the boundary conditions and the coriolis force.

(chorus)



Ace Towing roams the streets of Cambridge each and every night,

They tow cars and stow cars and hide them out of sight;

They tried to tow Godiva's horse, the Engineers said "Hey!"

Then towed away their towing truck, and now the Ace must pay!

(chorus)



Sir Francis Drake and all his ships set out for Calais Bay.

They'd heard the Spanish rum fleet was headed on their way.

But the engineers had beat them by a night and a half a day

And though as drunk as ptarmigans, you still could hear them say:

(chorus)



A maiden and an engineer were sitting in the park,

The engineer was working on some research after dark.

His scientific method was a marvel to observe ---

While his right hand wrote the figures, his left hand traced the curves.

(chorus)



My father peddles opium, my mother's on the dole.

My sister used to walk the streets, but now she's on parole.

My brother runs a restaurant with a bedroom in the rear.

But they don't even speak to me 'cause I'm an engineer.

 

Michigan Arrogance

June 5th, 2013 at 9:46 PM ^

E to the U du dx!

(aka the Tech Cheer)

E to the U du dx, E to the X dx!

Cosine! Secant! Tangent! Sine!

3 point 1 4 1 5 9!

Integral, radical ??dv

Slipstick, slide rule, M.I.T.!

WE ARE HAPPY - TECH IS HELL

T-E-C-H-N-O-L

O-G-Y!

M.I.T. RAH! RAH! RAH!

M.I.T. RAH! RAH! RAH!

M.I.T. RAH! RAH! RAH!

Technology! Technology! Technology!

Mi Sooner

June 5th, 2013 at 10:20 PM ^

My father peddles opium, my mother's on the dole.

My sister used to walk the streets, but now she's on parole.

My brother runs a restaurant with a bedroom in the rear.

But they don't even speak to me 'cause I'm an engineer.

 

i learned this as part of the Engineer's song.  My dad learned the same song at meechigan back in the day.  good ole MIT stole it from the engineers or th other way around.

Yeoman

June 5th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^

The Wiki entry for the song says it originated at MIT but there's no citation for the claim. Someone in the "talk" entries confirms that his father, who attended MIT in the 40s, knew the song, but that doesn't mean it started there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godiva%27s_Hymn

I can't find any other explanation anywhere for where it might have come from, or any source from earlier than the 40s.

Yeoman

June 5th, 2013 at 9:42 PM ^

My high school had its own fight song, composed by one of the music teachers the first year of the school.

I didn't think anything of it at first but as time went by I realized I never heard another high school fight song that wasn't sung to the tune of a university's. Anybody know of one?

Larry

June 6th, 2013 at 3:15 AM ^

And interestingly enough, B1G fight songs are some of the most commonly stolen for high school use. "Minnesota Rouser," "On, Wisconsin!," and "Go U Northwestern," in that order, have to be the top three in that category.

Airport HS in Carleton, in whose district I used to live, uses "The Victors" as its fight song -- albeit dropped a few keys and at about half speed. My alma mater, Detroit Catholic Central in Novi, uses Texas A&M's fight song as one of its two fight songs.

MichiganTeacher

June 5th, 2013 at 9:59 PM ^

#1-20 is The Victors. Starting with #21 I could see

Anchors Aweigh.

University of Rhode Island's "Rhode Island Born and Rhode Island Bred." But NOT the UNC version with Tar Heel and Car'lina instead of Rhode Island.

Georgia Tech - Ramblin' Wreck.

Texas - Eyes of Texas Are Upon You.

 

Worst: Got to be UPenn. It's actually comlimentary to Harvard and Yale. Seriously, who does that in a fight song?

Runner-up for worst: Boomer Sooner. They stole half of it from Yale. They stole the other half from North Carolina. The first verse has only two different words. I don't think I need to go on.

 

 

In reply to by MichiganTeacher

Mi Sooner

June 5th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ^

the OU fight song -- every verse:

Verse 1,

 

Boomer Sooner
Boomer Sooner
Boomer Sooner

Verse 2,

 

Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma

Verse 3,

 

Go OU
Go OU
Go OU

In reply to by MichiganTeacher

Yeoman

June 5th, 2013 at 10:44 PM ^

 

Boomer Sooner. They stole half of it from Yale. They stole the other half from North Carolina.

 

OK, I'll bite: Which word did they steal from Yale and which from North Carolina?

UMgradMSUdad

June 6th, 2013 at 12:06 PM ^

It's mind numbingly repetitive.  The only advantage I can think of, is that hearing the lyrics once is enough to memorize.  I'm not sure just talking about it does it justice, though.  Here are the lyrics:

Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner 

Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner 

Boomer Sooner, Boomer Sooner 

Boomer Sooner, OK U! 

 

Oklahoma, Oklahoma 

Oklahoma, Oklahoma 

Oklahoma, Oklahoma 

Oklahoma, OK U! 

 

I'm a Sooner born and Sooner bred 

and when I die, I'll be Sooner dead 

Rah Oklahoma, Rah Oklahoma 

Rah Oklahoma, OK U! 

 

In reply to by MichiganTeacher

Larry

June 6th, 2013 at 3:29 AM ^

"The Eyes of Texas" is UT's alma mater, not its fight song. I do agree with you as to its awesomeness, though.