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A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated with collegiate sports, fight songs are also used by secondary schools and in professional sports. Fight songs are
sing-alongs Sing-along, also called community singing or group singing, is an event of singing together at gatherings or parties, less formally than choir singing. One can use a songbook. Common genres are folk songs, patriotic songs, kids' songs, spirituals ...
, allowing sports fans to cheer collectively for their team. These songs are commonly played several times at a sporting event. For example, the band might play the fight song when entering the stadium, whenever their team scores, or while cheerleaders dance at halftime or during other breaks in the game. In
Australian Rules Football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
, the team song is traditionally sung by the winning team at the end of the game. Some fight songs have a long history, connecting the fans who sing them to a time-honored tradition, frequently to music played by the institution's band. An analysis of 65 college fight songs by '' FiveThirtyEight'' identified words commonly used in the lyrics of these songs, including fight, win, and victory. Other common elements of fight song lyrics are mentioning the team's colors, spelling out the school's name, and using the words “hail” and "rah." The lyrics for many songs were composed by students, alumni, or faculty of the institution and are often paired with a pre-existing tune or another college's fight song. However, some composers are more famous than the fight song:
Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to ...
wrote "Bulldog" for his alma mater
Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...
. Hundreds of colleges have fight songs, most originating from the early 20th century in connection with football. The first collegiate fight song in the United States is Boston College's "For Boston", written and composed by T. J. Hurley in 1885. One of the oldest fight songs in Australia is
Melbourne Grammar School Melbourne Grammar School is an Australian Independent school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Day school, day and boarding school. It comprises a co-educational preparatory school from Prep to Year 6 and a middle school and seni ...
's "Play Together, Dark Blue Twenty" dating to before 1893. In 1997, '' USA Today'' selected " Aggie War Hymn", the fight song of
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M Unive ...
, as the number one college football fight song in the United States. Although used similarly, stadium anthems differ from fight songs because they are not written specifically for a sports team. Fight songs are also different from an alma mater or school song which is a patronal song for an educational institution and usually has a slower tempo.


List of college fight songs

Many colleges have unofficial fight songs or have changed their official song over the years. Additionally, some colleges have rally songs, spirit songs, cheer songs, and alma maters. This list is exclusively for the fight song or songs currently approved by the institution, even if played infrequently.


Canada


Japan


Mexico


United States


List of professional sports team fight songs


Australia


Canada


Japan


United States


List of secondary school fight songs


Australia


Philippines


See also

*
List of Australian Football League team songs An Australian Football League team song is traditionally sung by members of the winning team after an AFL game. It is played when each team runs out onto the field prior to the beginning of the match, and played for the winning team at the end o ...
*
Alma mater (song) A school song, alma mater, school hymn or school anthem is the patronal song of a school. In England, this tradition is particularly strong in public schools and grammar schools. Australia * The Glennie School – '' Now Thank We All Our Go ...
* Entrance music *
Football chant A football chant or terrace chant is form of vocalisation performed by supporters of association football, typically during football matches. Football chanting is an expression of collective identity, most often used by fans to express their p ...
*
List of school songs A school song, alma mater, school hymn or school anthem is the patronal song of a school. In England, this tradition is particularly strong in public schools and grammar schools. Australia * The Glennie School – ''Now Thank We All Our G ...
* Stadium anthem * Theme music * Music at sporting events


References


External links


College Football Fight Song LyricsNCAA College Football Fight Songs MusicNCAA College Football Fight Songs Ring ToneLyrics to College Fight Songs
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Lyrics On Demand-College Fight Songs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fight Song Sports terminology Sports music