Argonotes, the unofficial band of the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

, was an all volunteer organization committed to bringing quality musical entertainment and a "traditional football atmosphere" to all Argonauts home football games. Comprising more than 50 musicians on most game days, Argonotes was the largest musical organization associated with the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. In addition to game day duties, the band also stayed active during the off-season by promoting the Argos,

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, and the city's pride by taking part in various local events (

Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

, Raptors, Marlies games, fan festivals, etc.). Occasionally, the band took its show on the road by representing Toronto and its fans in other cities such as

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

for events such as the 2009

Labour Day Classic The Labour Day Classic (french: Classique de la fête du travail, branded as OK Tire Labour Day Weekend for sponsorship reasons) is a week of the Canadian Football League (CFL) schedule played over the Labour Day weekend (which includes the firs ...

and playoff games. The band disbanded during the

2017 CFL season The 2017 CFL season was the 64th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 60th season of the Canadian Football League. The regular season began on June 22 and concluded on November 4. The playoffs commenced on November 12 an ...

, reportedly due to a conflict with the Argonauts' organization.

Band history

The Argonotes were the spiritual successors to earlier marching bands associated with the Argonauts over the franchise's long history. The last Argonauts band had dissolved by the 1970s, and only the occasional invited marching band played at half-times of games in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Argonotes era began in 1995, when the band was founded by Steve Hayman. The recruited players were mostly local alumni of the Waterloo, Queen's,

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, UofT, WLU and

McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to: People * McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname) * McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...

university bands, ranging from recent graduates to people who last played in the 1950s. ;Highlights from the first decade of the Argonotes: :1996 – First road trip, to Hamilton for the 1996 Grey Cup Festival. :1998 – First trip to Montreal for playoff game :1999 – First appearance outside of a Leafs game :2000 – At the request of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Argonotes temporarily become the Ticats Band, "Orchestra Wee-Wee", for the Ticats Grey Cup Ring dinner. :2001 – Performing at parties surrounding Grey Cup festivities in Montreal :2002 – Official Band, World Beer Games :2004 – Defeats Roughriders Pep Band in sonic battle at Grey Cup in Ottawa. :2007 – CFL Grey Cup weekend performances in Toronto. ;Appearances: *100th Grey Cup Festival Kickoff (2011) *

Breakfast Television (Citytv Toronto) Breakfast television (Europe, Canada, and Australia) or morning show (United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it is a ...

Repertoire

Following is some of the Argonotes more frequently performed songs. *

Born to Be Wild "Born to Be Wild" is a song written by Mars Bonfire and first performed by the band Steppenwolf. The song is often invoked in both popular and counter culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude. It is most notably featured in the 1969 fi ...

Louie Louie "Louie Louie" is a rhythm and blues song written and composed by American musician Richard Berry in 1955, recorded in 1956, and released in 1957. It is best known for the 1963 hit version by the Kingsmen and has become a standard in pop and r ...

I'm a Believer "I'm a Believer" is a song written by Neil Diamond and recorded by the Monkees in 1966 with the lead vocals by Micky Dolenz. The single, produced by Jeff Barry, hit the number-one spot on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart for the week en ...

The Magnificent Seven ''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay by William Roberts is a remake – in an Old West–style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself initially relea ...

Crazy Little Thing Called Love "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" is a song by the British rock band Queen. Written by Freddie Mercury in 1979, the track is included on their 1980 album '' The Game'', and also appears on the band's compilation album ''Greatest Hits'' in 1981. ...

Fight songs

The band played a number of pep band tunes common to sporting environments, with a heavy emphasis on songs by Canadian bands or artists. Nautical tunes such as ''

Anchors Aweigh "Anchors Aweigh" is the fight song of the United States Naval Academy and unofficial march song of the United States Navy. It was composed in 1906 by Charles A. Zimmermann with lyrics by Alfred Hart Miles. When he composed "Anchors Aweigh", Zim ...

'' and ''

Row, Row, Row Your Boat "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is an English language nursery rhyme and a popular children's song, often sung in a round. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19236. Bing Crosby included the song in a medley on his album ''101 Gang Songs'' (1961). ...

'' were also common. The team's traditional fight song, popular in the 1950s and 60s and recently rediscovered, was ''Go Argos Go'': ''Go Toronto Argos go go go''
''Pull together fight the foe foe foe''
''Scoring touchdowns for the blue on blue''
''The Argos will win for you'' ''Full of fight and courage you can't stop''
''They pile up the points until they reach the top''
''Pull together till the Grey Cup's won''
''Go Argos go go go'' ''Go Toronto Argos go go go''
''Pull together fight the foe foe foe''
''Scoring touchdowns for the blue on blue''
''The Argos will win for you'' ''Full of fight and courage you can't stop''
''They pile up the points until they reach the top''
''Pull together till the Grey Cup's won''
''Go Argos go Toronto go''
''Go Argos go go go'' Another traditional-style fight song played by the band was ''Argos Rule the CFL'', a song written by Tony Daniels and Damon Papadopoulos of Talk 640 Radio shortly before the band's formation: ''The Alouettes, Lions and the Blue Bombers''
''Tiger-Cats, Eskimoes and Stampeders''
''The Roughriders and the other Rough Riders''
''But the Argos Rule the CFL''
''T! O! R! O! N! T! O!''
''A! R! G! O! N!A!U!T!S!'' Note that since the demise of the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

, the third line is now ''...and no other Rough Riders''.

References

External links

* {{Toronto Argonauts Toronto Argonauts Musical groups from Toronto Musical groups established in 1995 1995 establishments in Ontario Musical groups disestablished in 2017 2017 disestablishments in Ontario