American college fight songs: History and historiography

Studwell, William E.

doi:10.1080/03007769508591602

Cited by 3 publications

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“…College music researcher William Studwell (1995a) asserts the fight songs we know today began appearing at the end of the 19 th century and the beginning of the 20 th century. Studwell stated the "first outstanding fight song" (Studwell, 1995b, p. 34) was the University of Michigan's "The Victors," which was inked by Louis Elbel in 1898.…”

Section: You Know the Words: A Content Analysis Of College Fight Songsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The U.S. Naval Academy fight song "Anchors Aweigh" was written in 1907 and the University of Notre Dame's fight song "Notre Dame Victory March" was written in 1908 (Studwell, 1995a). By 1909, the popularity of college fight songs was growing, and William Purdy wrote the tune for a song he intended to serve as the fight song of the University of Minnesota; however, Purdy's lyricist Carl Beck was a Wisconsin graduate who believed the tune was perfect for his school and instead penned lyrics for the fight song that would become the classic "On Wisconsin" (Winstead, 2013).…”

Section: You Know the Words: A Content Analysis Of College Fight Songsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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You Know the Words

Hanna,

Thompson,

Morton

2023

JESS

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This content analysis study examines the lyrics contained in the fight songs of the 130 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision schools. Because fight songs are still being written and other fight songs are being updated to account for societal changes, a study of the themes that are common among fight songs would be valuable to those responsible for writing these important works. Literature related to college fight song studies, music, and branding, as well as music in advertising provides context to the study. The researchers engaged in a two-step process that involved theme identification and coded theme count. In the theme identification stage, the researchers used a common sample of two fight songs per conference to identify themes that consistently appeared in the song lyrics. The researchers then coded the full population of 130 songs seeking the identified themes across all songs. The most common themes were self-reference to the name of the university (97.7%), exclamation (93.1%), and togetherness (90%). The thematic analysis confirms the unification and excitement purposes that fight songs are intended to generate and confirm the role fight songs play in intercollegiate athletics branding— selling the concepts of unification and excitement to college sport consumers. The remaining themes included game-specific references, nickname, school colors, victory, vocalization, war, and word-splits.

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Section: You Know the Words: A Content Analysis Of College Fight Songsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: You Know the Words: A Content Analysis Of College Fight Songsmentioning

confidence: 99%

You Know the Words

Hanna,

Thompson,

Morton

2023

JESS

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Heritage as hate: racism and sporting traditions

Yearwood

2018

Leisure Studies

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This paper gives explanations to the symbols and rituals of sporting events and how symbols, ritually celebrated and performed through song under the guise of school spirit, normalize and allow for the incorporation of white supremacist ideologies into the everyday lives of a community. These racialized ideologies become normalized as every day, taken for granted meaning without much critical reflection. This paper asks how racist anti-black sentiment becomes normalized as heritage or tradition. As the Black American male football players sang this song to a predominantly white audience the tensions of power, racism, and sport overlapped in ways that seemed to go unnoticed and unproblematized by many. This paper explores ritual and tradition as forms of institutionalized racism framed within the context of heritage and school tradition. I argue ritual symbols, and ritual practice teaching anti-Black and pro-White sentiment becomes learned and passed on through subtle and unmarked practices. School fight songs and sporting traditions are part of the ongoing interconnectedness of race and sport in American college life. This paper demonstrates how white supremacist values become normalized through mascots, songs and rituals imbued with racist and anti-black (along with anti-Native American) sentiment. If we are to see sport as part of a complicated and expansive practice of leisure, then we must also recognize that sport and leisure are always political. Sport is an integral component to normalization of racism even when sport denotes fun and entertainment.

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1998

Music Reference Services Quarterly

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American college fight songs: History and historiography

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

You Know the Words

You Know the Words

Heritage as hate: racism and sporting traditions

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