"Texas Fight" is the official

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 Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

and was written by Colonel Walter S. Hunnicutt in collaboration with James E. King, then director of the Marlin High School Band. It is sung to a fast tempo version Taps, a song played at many

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

funerals A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

. "Texas Fight" is played following touchdowns and extra points at University of Texas (UT)

football games Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, other Longhorn sports events, as well as on other occasions of celebration. The repeated strain contains portions of "

The Eyes of Texas "The Eyes of Texas" is the school spirit song of the University of Texas at Austin. It is set to the tune of " I've Been Working on the Railroad". Students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the university sing the song at Texas Longhorns sports g ...

," the school's alma mater.

History and usage

Hunnicutt wrote "Texas Fight" in response to the song used by their longtime rivals,

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. One of the Aggie songs then was Farmers Fight, which consisted of the words "Farmers Fight" sung to Taps, a song played at many

. Impressed by the song, Hunnicutt figured he would write "Texas Fight" also sung to Taps, but making the song more march-like and having "Texas" throughout instead of "Farmers." In a letter written in 1952 by Colonel Hunnicutt, he says "I wrote 'Texas Fight'... in an attempt to counteract the songs and yells of the Texas Aggies, which were not too complimentary to our Student Body and some of which tended to ridicule 'The Eyes of Texas'." The words of the song as finally adopted were written by "Blondie" Pharr, director of the

Longhorn Band The University of Texas Longhorn Band (LHB), also known as the Showband of the Southwest, is the marching band of The University of Texas at Austin. The Longhorn Band was founded in 1900 by distinguished professor of chemistry, Dr. Eugene P. Sc ...

from 1917 to 1937. "Texas Fight" is played following touchdowns and extra points at University of Texas (UT)

, other Longhorn sports events, as well as on other occasions of celebration. The repeated strain contains portions of "

," the school's alma mater. This modification was made in the summer of 1967 at the suggestion of Charles "Buster" Griffith, a member of the trumpet section, and was premiered - unannounced - at the first football game that fall, after which it became tradition.

Lyrics

The wording of the song is as follows.

Alternate Lyrics

"Hail, Hail, the gang's all here" is rarely, if ever, sung. It is almost always replaced with "Give 'em hell, give 'em hell! Go, Horns, go!" Another version often used at football games, particularly by students, is "Give 'em hell, give 'em hell! Make 'em eat shit!"., which was intended originally as a jab at the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

. Another version used at the annual Texas-OU game is "Give 'em hell, give 'em hell! OU sucks!" In a commercial for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

's ''College GameDay'',

Kirk Herbstreit Kirk Edward Herbstreit (; born August 19, 1969) is an American sportscaster and former college football player. He serves as an analyst for ESPN's '' College GameDay'', a television program covering college football, and he also provides color ...

improvised "Yeah, we're Texas, just north of Mexico. Home of the armadillo, black gold and El Arroyo..." before Longhorns coach

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American college football coach. He is currently in his second stint as the head football coach for the University of North Carolina, where he first coached from 1988 until departing in 1997, whe ...

says, "we don't freestyle 'Texas Fight', Big Boy."

References

External links

"Texas Fight" performed by the Texas Longhorn Band
{{Big 12 fight songs American college songs College fight songs in the United States Big 12 Conference fight songs Texas Longhorns Songs about Texas Year of song missing