BOOLA BOOLA
The air is crisp and the leaves are golden. Fall is here and the football season is in full swing. What a great time of year! We once lived very close to Boardman High School. Starting in August, we could hear the drum beat from the marching band practicing before and after school all through the football season.
That was fine for me because I love a good marching band. I am really big fan of school fight songs. The school fight song represents the embodiment of school spirit and loyalty, and will rouse school passions for a lifetime as the opening bars of the song are played in any kind of a surrounding.
I am a Boardman High School Spartan graduating in 1968. Michigan State University also called itself the Spartans. So Boardman High adopted their fight song as its own. It is a great fight song. (Edit 2014: The Boardman Fight Song was actually The Minnesota Rouser...but it used the Michigan State Fight Song liberally when marching onto the field). Then I went to Ohio State. When I came home Boardman had adopted the Buckeye fight song as its own. The school band director had dotted the “i” in Script Ohio when he played tuba in Ohio State’s band. It still doesn't work. It's Ohio State's fight song.
The two local Catholic high schools wrote their own fight songs. Cardinal Mooney’s We are the Cardinals of Mooney High, and Ursuline High’s Up in the Sky are great songs and deserve to be more than local high school pep songs.
The best fight songs have great melodies that are easy to sing and easily recognized. You hear them once and you remember them. They have movement! You can feel the band marching on the field even if you are listening to a recording. They are easily adaptable to fanfare anthems prior to the playing of the song. I particularly like fight songs that have two parts, a verse and a chorus, and both parts are equally important. And it is all the better if the bridge between the two parts allows the fans to shout things like “Eat ‘em up; Rip ‘em up; Give ‘em hell State!”
With that in mind, here is my list of the 10 best college fight songs with links:
1) Michigan State University – Falcone Fight is the perfect fight song and the only one on the list that meets all of my criteria. Not well known except for MSU grads, hear it once and you will agree. It has a verse, an anthem, a yell built right into the performance version of the song, and an easy to recognize chorus.
2) The University of Missouri – Every True Son and Fight Tigers joins two melodies into a great combination of songs bridged by some pretty heavy fan shouts and yells. Every True Son is better known as It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, but combined with the Fight Tigers it works. Besides, any band called The Marching Mizzou would automatically make the list!!!
3) Youngstown State University – The Red and White are Waiving is the best fight song that will never be heard by anyone other than those that live in the area, and even that is questionable as it is rarely played outside of the stadium. During the early-mid 20th century, the then Youngstown College Penguins was on the cutting edge of football. The penalty flag was a Youngstown College innovation. The college was associated with the Dana School of Music, one of the top music schools in the country. The combination resulted in the quintessential example of a 20th Century college fight song.
4) University of Notre Dame – The Fighting Irish managed to make the ND fight song the most recognized fight song in the nation. Whether you love ‘em or hate ’em, you can’t help but get teary eyed when the strains of Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame waft from the football field.
5) Ohio State University – It has two fight songs of equal import to us graduates; Buckeye Battle Cry and Across the Field. When the no frills, all brass band (male only until 1973) comes marching into the Horseshoe, you will be hooked. Hang on Sloopy is the added bonus. Add Le Regiment as the band performs Script Ohio...it is college tradition on steroids.
6) University of Oklahoma – The Boomer Sooner is better known to the rest of us as Boola Boola. But it does the trick. You can’t help but hum it for a week after hearing it.
7) University of Southern California – Fight On is another ear worm fight song you can’t get out of your head once the band plays through an overly produced and written introduction. (It's Hollywood. What do you expect?) It is not the most creative tune ever written, but what it lacks in style it compensates for in key changes. Besides, only in California can you get a guy to dress like a Trojan and ride around the stadium on a horse.
8) Georgia Tech – Eveyone knows “He’s a rambling wreck from Georgia Tech and a heck of an engineer…” If you don't, you should.
9) University of Minnesota – The Minnesota Rouser does just that. It is a clean and simple fight song that is straight forward and to the point. It makes you rouse.
10) University of Michigan – Hail to the Victors...what can I say? U of M is the mortal enemy of Ohio State in one of the top rivalries in the country. I only know the obscene version of the Victors. But I suppose to Michigan fans, the fight song meets my criteria. So I will be the bigger person and put it on the list. Who knew it had such a long intro?
NCAA College Fight Song Music is a web site that will allow you to listen to the fight songs of all of the major conferences and major independents. Enjoy, and Go Bucks.
That was fine for me because I love a good marching band. I am really big fan of school fight songs. The school fight song represents the embodiment of school spirit and loyalty, and will rouse school passions for a lifetime as the opening bars of the song are played in any kind of a surrounding.
I am a Boardman High School Spartan graduating in 1968. Michigan State University also called itself the Spartans. So Boardman High adopted their fight song as its own. It is a great fight song. (Edit 2014: The Boardman Fight Song was actually The Minnesota Rouser...but it used the Michigan State Fight Song liberally when marching onto the field). Then I went to Ohio State. When I came home Boardman had adopted the Buckeye fight song as its own. The school band director had dotted the “i” in Script Ohio when he played tuba in Ohio State’s band. It still doesn't work. It's Ohio State's fight song.
The two local Catholic high schools wrote their own fight songs. Cardinal Mooney’s We are the Cardinals of Mooney High, and Ursuline High’s Up in the Sky are great songs and deserve to be more than local high school pep songs.
The best fight songs have great melodies that are easy to sing and easily recognized. You hear them once and you remember them. They have movement! You can feel the band marching on the field even if you are listening to a recording. They are easily adaptable to fanfare anthems prior to the playing of the song. I particularly like fight songs that have two parts, a verse and a chorus, and both parts are equally important. And it is all the better if the bridge between the two parts allows the fans to shout things like “Eat ‘em up; Rip ‘em up; Give ‘em hell State!”
With that in mind, here is my list of the 10 best college fight songs with links:
1) Michigan State University – Falcone Fight is the perfect fight song and the only one on the list that meets all of my criteria. Not well known except for MSU grads, hear it once and you will agree. It has a verse, an anthem, a yell built right into the performance version of the song, and an easy to recognize chorus.
2) The University of Missouri – Every True Son and Fight Tigers joins two melodies into a great combination of songs bridged by some pretty heavy fan shouts and yells. Every True Son is better known as It’s a Long Way to Tipperary, but combined with the Fight Tigers it works. Besides, any band called The Marching Mizzou would automatically make the list!!!
3) Youngstown State University – The Red and White are Waiving is the best fight song that will never be heard by anyone other than those that live in the area, and even that is questionable as it is rarely played outside of the stadium. During the early-mid 20th century, the then Youngstown College Penguins was on the cutting edge of football. The penalty flag was a Youngstown College innovation. The college was associated with the Dana School of Music, one of the top music schools in the country. The combination resulted in the quintessential example of a 20th Century college fight song.
4) University of Notre Dame – The Fighting Irish managed to make the ND fight song the most recognized fight song in the nation. Whether you love ‘em or hate ’em, you can’t help but get teary eyed when the strains of Cheer, Cheer for Old Notre Dame waft from the football field.
5) Ohio State University – It has two fight songs of equal import to us graduates; Buckeye Battle Cry and Across the Field. When the no frills, all brass band (male only until 1973) comes marching into the Horseshoe, you will be hooked. Hang on Sloopy is the added bonus. Add Le Regiment as the band performs Script Ohio...it is college tradition on steroids.
6) University of Oklahoma – The Boomer Sooner is better known to the rest of us as Boola Boola. But it does the trick. You can’t help but hum it for a week after hearing it.
7) University of Southern California – Fight On is another ear worm fight song you can’t get out of your head once the band plays through an overly produced and written introduction. (It's Hollywood. What do you expect?) It is not the most creative tune ever written, but what it lacks in style it compensates for in key changes. Besides, only in California can you get a guy to dress like a Trojan and ride around the stadium on a horse.
8) Georgia Tech – Eveyone knows “He’s a rambling wreck from Georgia Tech and a heck of an engineer…” If you don't, you should.
9) University of Minnesota – The Minnesota Rouser does just that. It is a clean and simple fight song that is straight forward and to the point. It makes you rouse.
10) University of Michigan – Hail to the Victors...what can I say? U of M is the mortal enemy of Ohio State in one of the top rivalries in the country. I only know the obscene version of the Victors. But I suppose to Michigan fans, the fight song meets my criteria. So I will be the bigger person and put it on the list. Who knew it had such a long intro?
NCAA College Fight Song Music is a web site that will allow you to listen to the fight songs of all of the major conferences and major independents. Enjoy, and Go Bucks.
Comments
You certainly have a knack for interesting and useful subjects!
I was hesitant to read Boola Boola
because I thought it would bring back painful memories of grade school; I was picked on by a girl. When I saw Boola Boola, I thought it was feminine for bully bully and she never sang a song when she beat me up!
Keep those great blogs coming!
Forrest