Not my alma mater but I find this 1931 composition straightforward and classic.
1. Idaho -- "Go, Vandals" is the once and future king of college fight songs, with a fanfare lead-in that could motivate a successful infantry charge. Whether it will motivate the Idaho football team to do the impossible Sept. 14 against Oregon in Eugene is suspect (trombonists generally can't block). If you don't have tickets and don't want to drive to Moscow, Idaho, (can't blame you) go to Corvallis for a Crescent Valley High School game to hear it.
2. Texas A&M -- The "Aggie War Hymn" isn't a fight song at all. It's exactly what it says it is -- a war hymn, and there's nothing quite like it. It was invented, the legend goes, by Pinky Wilson, who was on guard duty in 1918 during the post-World War I occupation of Europe and was motivated -- presumably by boredom -- to write it. It's an odd medium-tempo march that is equal parts original music, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" and "Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" -- and it's wonderful.
3. Notre Dame -- The legendary "Victory March" makes the list because it's bulletproof. With the possible exception of "On, Wisconsin" and the "Washington & Lee Swing," it's the most copied fight song of all. It's been insulted by some of the worst bands in the world -- I heard it beaten senseless by a six-piece band in Fort Jones, Calif., in 1970 -- but still retains its clear, inspiring and rhythmic force. The Portland area? Only (this figures) Jesuit High School.
4. Army -- No, no, no -- not "The Caissons Go Rolling Along." That's the regular Army. The West Point cadets have been using the stirring "On, Brave Old Army Team" since their music director, Capt. Philip Egner (a lifer), wrote it sometime around World War I. When it's done as intended, it includes an interlude in which the cadets whistle five notes, then somebody touches off a cannon. It, like Army football these days, fires blanks.
5. Columbia -- The oldest fight songs in the country are from the Ivy League schools. "Roar, Lion, Roar" is the best of a mediocre Ivy pack (Dartmouth should have a ritual burning of the sheet music to all its songs), and it measures up with just about any other fight song in the country. If the football team could do the same, it would have something really good going. But don't hold your breath.
6. Washington State -- From the intro to the "W-a-s-h-i-n-g-t-o-n S-t-a-t-e" spellout at the end, this one is terrific. And no wonder: It was written in 1919 by two music majors -- Zella Melcher (words) and Phyllis Sales (music). Yes, both women, a fact that should put a few testosterone-borne myths to rest. Lots of local high schools use it. Around Western Oregon, you can hear it at Sunset, Benson and West Albany athletic events.
7. Houston -- There is no cute story to go along with the best fight song from the old Southwest Conference (the unique Aggie War Hymn doesn't count). It was written by two students, Marion Ford (that's a name, not an Ohio car dealership) and Forest Fountain (that's a name, not a landmark) and didn't become well-known outside Texas until the mid-1960s, when the independent Cougars got good at football and later when the school joined the SWC. Too remote for a local high school to use it? No! Get up to Battle Ground, Wash., some day and hear the Tigers play it.
8. Michigan State -- The best fight song in the Big Ten has a nice origin, something akin to the Abe Lincoln myth about how he wrote the Gettysburg Address on an envelope during the train ride. In 1917, yellmaster F.I. Lackey supposedly wrote it on the train on the way back from the Aggies' (they were the Michigan Agricultural College Aggies then) game at Wisconsin. It's so good the Spartan band usually plays both the refrain and chorus. It didn't wander too far west, but someone in the 1950s thought it would be good at David Douglas High School. And it is.
9. Arizona -- Jack K. Lee was named the school's director of bands in 1952, and on the way home saw the words "Bear Down" on a U. of A. rooftop from his plane. There's a story for another time and place there about the expression, but it inspired Lee to write "Bear Down, Arizona." A great one if not everyone agrees. In 2000, a columnist in the Arizona Daily Wildcat panned it in favor of the older "Fight, Wildcats, Fight." Hey, kid! All fight song words are dumb. Listen to the music! Sheesh!
10. Central Michigan -- The second-best fight song in Michigan, "Fighting Chippewa" was written by one Howard Loomis. The school's Web sites don't say who he was or when he wrote it, but he did an excellent job. The words actually fit the music, too. The school nickname and the name of the song have withstood the objections of those who (like me) don't like the insult to Native Americans; even if they succeed in changing it, it's still a great song. Barlow High School in Gresham uses it.
http://www.yasni.com/ext.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fidaho.scout.com%2F2%2F63648.html
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