"I'm a Tar Heel Born" is the official

fight song 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 ...

of the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

. It originated in the late 1800s or early 1900s as an add-on (or "tag") to the school's

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

, " Hark The Sound". It was sung at a 1903 baseball game against

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

, and was soon after adapted for the Brown University fight song “I’m a Brown Man Born”. The song was also adapted for the

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

's fight song "We're Rhode Island Born", as well as the tag in the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

's fight song

Boomer Sooner "Boomer Sooner" is the fight song for the University of Oklahoma (OU). The lyrics were written in 1905 by Arthur M. Alden, an OU student and son of a local jeweler in Norman. The tune is taken from " Boola Boola", the fight song of Yale Universit ...

in 1906. Today, the song is almost always played immediately after the singing of "Hark The Sound", even during more formal occasions such as

convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a specia ...

and

commencement A graduation is the awarding of a diploma by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it, which can also be called commencement, congregation, convocation or invocation. The date of the graduation ...

. Just before home football and basketball games, the song is played by the Bell Tower near the center of campus, and is often played after major victories.

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raked it as the 24th best college football fight song.

Lyrics

I'm a Tar Heel born, I'm a Tar Heel bred. And when I die, I'm a Tar Heel dead. So it's rah-rah, Car'lina-'lina! Rah-rah, Car'lina-'lina! Rah-rah, Car'lina-'lina! Rah, rah, rah!

''Rah, rah, rah!'' is rarely sung, except by older fans. From the 1970s through the early 1990s, it was usually replaced by "Go to hell State!"; N.C. State was UNC's major athletic rival in sports other than basketball for most of the 20th century. Since the early 1990s, it has usually been replaced with ''Go to hell, Duke!'' The State variation was taught at freshman orientation well into the 1990s. However, currently freshmen are taught that even when playing the Wolfpack, the correct refrain is "Go to hell Duke!" The traditional "Go To hell State!" is still commonly used during the football season. However, it is the Duke variation that has become popular in recent years, especially among younger fans unaware of past tradition. Other variations occasionally appear. For instance, during a 1996 football game in which the Tar Heels routed Clemson 45-0, some students were heard replacing the last line with ''Clemson sucks!'' Also, during the Tar Heels' unexpected run to the 2000 Final Four, students replaced the last line with ''Go to hell,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

!''

References

{{ACC fight songs American college songs Atlantic Coast Conference fight songs University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill songs

Lyrics

See also

References