A fight song is a rousing short
song
A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...
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 in ...
.
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
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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
, 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."
Many songs were composed by students, alumni, or faculty of the institution; for example,
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...
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, ...
. Some songs are created by pairing new lyrics with a pre-existing tune, even another college's fight song.
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 private school, private 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 senior s ...
's "Play Together, Dark Blue Twenty" dating to before 1893.
In 1997, ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' selected "
Aggie War Hymn", the fight song of
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
, as the "No. 1" 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)
*
Entrance music
*
Football chant
*
List of school songs
*
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
(Temporarily disabled)
Lyrics On Demand-College Fight Songs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fight Song
Sports terminology
Sports music