A fight song is a rousing short
song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...
associated with a sports
team
A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal.
As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...
.
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, 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, 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
''FiveThirtyEight'', sometimes rendered as ''538'', is an American website that focuses on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States. The website, which takes its name from the number of electors in th ...
'' 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 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
(Pray and Work)
, established = 1849 (on present site since 1858 - the celebrated date of foundation)
, type = Independent, co-educational primary, single-sex boys secondary, day and boarding
, denomination ...
's "Play Together, Dark Blue Twenty" dating to before 1893.
In 1997, ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
'' selected "
Aggie War Hymn The Aggie War Hymn is the war hymn of Texas A&M University; officially, the school does not have a fight song.
Lyrics
Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck!
Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck!
First verse
All hail to dear old Texas A&M
Rally around Maroon and White ...
", the fight song of
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
, 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
*
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 God'' ...
*
Entrance music
Entrance music (also known as an entry theme or walk-on music) is a musical piece or song that is played for athletes or entertainers when they first appear in front of the spectators before beginning a performance. Popular music acts may have rec ...
*
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 ...
*
List of school songs
A school song, alma mater, school hymn or school anthem is the patronal song
A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sou ...
*
Stadium anthem Stadium anthems or sports anthems or arena anthems are terms to refer songs that are played over the public address systems at stadiums and arenas during breaks in the action to rally the fans. Unlike college fight songs, most stadium anthems were ...
*
Theme music
Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
*
Music at sporting events
The use of music at sporting events is a practice that is thousands of years old, but has recently had a resurgence as a noted phenomenon. Some sports have specific traditions with respect to pieces of music played at particular intervals. Others ...
References
External links
College Football Fight Song LyricsNCAA College Football Fight Songs MusicNCAA College Football Fight Songs Ring ToneLyrics to College Fight Songs
(Temporarily disabled)
Lyrics On Demand-College Fight Songs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fight Song
Sports terminology
Sports music