"Hail to Old O.S.U." is the song from which the

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 ...

for

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

is based. It was written by Harold A. Wilkins in 1914 and is played mainly at sporting events like

football 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 ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

games. The lyrics have been slightly altered since being written "to conform to a changing culture", changing to conform to new initials (O.A.C. became O.S.C., and later, O.S.U.), and the use of a more gender-neutral version. The music and lyrics were copyrighted in 1914 and are now public domain.

The original lyrics (including original title, subheading, and punctuation)

The Fight Song

Oregon State's Fight Song is a modified version of "Hail to Old O.S.U." It consists of the chorus, a chant (O-S-U Fight B-E-A-V-E-R-S) backed by drums, and a repeat of the second half of the chorus. No verse is sung. The Oregon State University Alumni Association, owners of all rights to the song, modified the Fight Song lyrics in the 1980s to be gender neutral. The current arrangement of "Hail to Old OSU" played by the Oregon State University Marching Band consists of the first verse, followed by the modified Fight Song. The second verse is no longer present in any modern arrangement of the song.

Hail to old OSU - Fight Song Lyrics

OSU, our hats are off to you Beavers, Beavers, fighters through and through We'll root for every man, we'll cheer for every stand That's made for old OSU. Watch our team go tearing down the field Men of iron, their strength will never yield. Hail, hail, hail, hail Hail to old OSU.

References

External links

MP3 of "Hail to Old OSU", as performed by Oregon State University Marching Band
{{authority control Oregon State University American college songs College fight songs in the United States Pac-12 Conference fight songs 1914 songs