Best Fight Songs

In part due to Ruben's misguided ranking of "The Aggie War Hymn" over "The Victors", it's time to consider fight songs (this also lets use break in the -ology part of our name).

So what is it that makes a good fight song? In order:

1. Sound: The most important thing about a fight song is the music, if only because most exposure to it comes from the tubas of the marching band.


2. Lyrics: A fight song should evoke something lyrically. I'm not looking for Dylanesque lyrics, here, but something about the school and its tradition ought to have been able to inspire a lyricist to put evocative words to the music. What should the lyrics evoke? I'm flexible on this. Hating on a rival is good, but I think that's best left for later verses. It helps here if the title of the fight song is punchy, but that's less important.


3. Reaction: The point of a fight song is to inspire pride, of course, and so what the fight song impels the fans to do is a factor. I would argue, though, that it's very slight due to the other factors that influence its perception. For example, if the Big House weren't a big hole in the ground, listening to 107,000+ Michigan fans pump their fists in the air as they shout Hail! would be a lot more impressive. Additionally, a fight song doesn't necessarily have to be uptempo to be good, which would hurt the reaction factor.

So, what are some examples of good fight songs? (Audio of all of these fight songs can be found at http://fightmusic.com.)

"The Victors" is a good fight song. Musically, it's punchy. It's full of pomp, and it evokes a team moving its way down the field. Lyrically, it talks about Michigan as champions and celebrates the school. "Fight On USC" is a classic. So is the "Notre Dame Victory Song" and all of the service academy fight songs. "Fight For LSU" is wonderful. My favorite fight song, however, is "Mighty Oregon." Just listen to it.

Now, there are a number of fight songs that sound great, but the lyrics are just terrible. I'm particularly annoyed with made up words. If you have to make up words to fill out your fight song, you're not inspired enough. In this category go Illinois ' "Oskee Wow Wow" and the Aggie War Hymn, among others.

What fight songs are just bad? I'll tell you what: the worst part about watching Florida stick 41 points on Ohio State was having to listen to "Orange And Blue." You know what else made the national championship game stink? When I wasn't listening to Florida's, I occasionally had to listen to one or the other of Ohio State's two crappy fight songs. Penn State's fight song also irritates me.

I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about Rocky Top: sometimes it sounds good, other times it irritates me.

At some point later I'll talk mascots, and weep some more for the lack of the Drinkin' Lincoln in Urbana.