"Big C" is a

fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. It was composed in 1913 by Harold P. Williams, with lyrics by Norman Loyall McLaren. It was written to commemorate the construction of the large concrete "C" in 1905 on the "rugged Eastern foothills" of the Berkeley campus. The song was the winning entry in the

Daily Californian ''The Daily Californian'' (''Daily Cal'') is an independent, student-run newspaper that serves the University of California, Berkeley, campus and its surrounding community. It formerly published a print edition four days a week on Monday, Tuesd ...

school song competition in 1913. Arrangements of the tune are used by other schools in the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

system.

Controversy

Kelly James, then Associate Director of the

UCLA Marching Band The Solid Gold Sound of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band represents the university at major athletic and extracurricular events. During the fall marching season, this 250-member band performs at the Rose Bowl for UCLA Bruin home football games. Prega ...

and alumnus of the Cal Band wrote an arrangement of "Big C," for a halftime show performed by the combined marching bands from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

, and Cal. Afterwards, UCLA continued using James' arrangement of "Big C" as its fight song, adding their own lyrics and renaming it "

Sons of Westwood Bruin Warriors, also known as "Sons of Westwood" and "Big C", is a fight song of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The tune comes from Big C, a school fight song for the University of California, Berkeley. The UCLA Bruin Marching Ban ...

." It was soon adopted as UCLA's fight song. Many Cal fans, most notably

Cal Band The University of California Marching Band, usually shortened to Cal Band, is the marching band for the University of California, Berkeley. While it is administered under the auspices of the university, the Cal Band is student-run and represents C ...

director James Berdahl, were enraged over what they saw as James' theft of their song. A bitter exchange ensued between Berdahl and James for the next several years concerning the legal and ethical grounds for James' adaptation of the song. Finally, on February 18, 1969, UCLA lawyers were told by the Copyright Office of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

that "Big C" had never been copyrighted, and was therefore in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

. However, whenever Cal plays UCLA and "Sons of Westwood" is played, Cal fans sing a parody ending, "but damn you, it's 'Big C.'" Likewise, whenever Cal plays "Big C" UCLA plays their signature "tag" at the end, which is a part of "Sons of Westwood" but not "Big C". Other schools in the University of California system that play the song as one of their official fight songs include

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and pr ...

, and

. UC Santa Barbara's song mentions that "Cal Poly's men will soon be routed, and their green will turn to red", UC Davis plays a version of the song that mentions Sacramento State, its own rival, saying, "Sac State Sucks! and will be routed." and "We'll stomp them in the mud and their green will turn to blood." Many high schools in California also use one of the arrangements of the tune, including

Vacaville High School Vacaville High School is an American public high school in the Vacaville Unified School District located in the city of Vacaville, California, serving the north side of the city and the far northern unincorporated communities of Allendale, Buckt ...

, Concord High School,

Napa High School Napa High School, established in 1897, is a four-year comprehensive high school located in Napa, California. The high school is a comprehensive high school of 1860 students. It is one of three comprehensive high schools in the Napa Valley Unifie ...

, Independence High School, Pittsburg High School in Pittsburg,

San Ramon Valley High School San Ramon Valley High School is a four-year public high school located in the East Bay neighborhood of Danville, California, United States. It is a part of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. It is a National Blue Ribbon school from th ...

in Danville, De La Salle High School in

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

Poway High School Poway High School is a four-year secondary school in southern California accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Established in 1961, its approximately 2,408 students are from the city of Poway and the community of Rancho Be ...

Poway Poway () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. The unincorporated community became a city on December 1, 1980. Poway's rural roots influenced its motto "The City in the Country". The city has a population of 49,701 as of 2 ...

River City High School A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wa ...

West Sacramento West Sacramento (also known as West Sac) is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. The city is separated from Sacramento by the Sacramento River, which also separates Sacramento and Yolo counties. It is a fast-growing community; the ...

Moorpark High School Moorpark High School is a comprehensive public secondary school located in the Mountain Meadows neighborhood of Moorpark, Ventura County, California, and serves students from grades 9 through 12. It is part of the Moorpark Unified School Distric ...

Moorpark Moorpark is a city in Ventura County in Southern California. Moorpark was founded in 1900. The town grew from just over 4,000 citizens in 1980 to over 25,000 by 1990. As of 2006, Moorpark was one of the fastest-growing cities in Ventura County.. ...

Benicia High School Benicia High School is a public high school serving approximately 1,700 students, grades nine through twelve. It is part of the Benicia Unified School District. It is located in Benicia, California, in the North Bay sub-region of the San Franc ...

Benicia Benicia ( , ) is a waterside city in Solano County, California, located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It served as the capital of California for nearly thirteen months from 1853 to 1854. The population was 26,997 at the ...

, Gonzales High School in

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and Orange High School.

Lyrics

On our rugged eastern foothills
Stands our symbol clear and bold
Big C means to fight and strive
And win for Blue and Gold
Golden Bear is ever watching
Day by day he prowls
And when he hears the tread
Of lowly Stanfurd red
From his lair he fiercely growls Grr-ah! Grr-ah! Grr-rr-rr-ah! We are sons of California
Fighting for the Gold and Blue
Palms of glory we will win
For Alma Mater true
Stanfurd's men will soon be routed
By our dazzling "C"
And when we serpentine
Their red will turn to green
In our hour of victory!

Recordings

The song has been recorded by the Loftner-Harris St. Francis Hotel Orchestra in October 1931 and also recorded on several albums by the Cal Band, including ''Big C'' (1976), ''California, Here's to Thee'' (1991), and ''University of California Band'' (2003).

External links

Cal Band page
{{Pac-10 Fight Songs University of California, Berkeley American college songs College fight songs in the United States Pac-12 Conference fight songs

Controversy

Lyrics

Recordings

See also

External links