"Victory for MSU", formerly "MSU Fight Song", 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
Michigan State University, US. MSU's fight song was created in early 1915 (and copyrighted in 1919), when MSU was known as Michigan Agricultural College (M.A.C.). An MSU
cheerleader, Francis Irving Lankey, along with lyricist Arthur Sayles, created the song.
With several changes noted below, the school has used the same song ever since. The MSU Fight Song is played at all university
sporting events
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, t ...
and is frequently sung by
students and
alumni
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
.
It has been ranked as the #6 best college fight song by the BleacherReport and called one of the NCAA's best fight songs by ESPN.
History
Prior to having a fight song, the MSU fans would sing the opponent's fight song being with its first victory over the University of Michigan in 1913. The next week, MSU defeated Wisconsin, it crown the win with “On Wisconsin.”
[ In 1915, "MSU Fight Song" was written by Arthur Sayles and composed by Francis Irving Lanke.][
]
Lyrics
Lankey's original lyrics reflected the school's role as an agricultural college, as well as its rivalry with the University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. The lyrics have since been changed several times. The lyrics had to be modified when the school changed its nickname from the "Aggies" to the Spartans
Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referr ...
. In addition, whereas the original lyrics were written for an American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
game against Michigan, the modern lyrics can be used for any opponent in any sport (although many hockey fans like to change the word "ball" to "hockey").
Yelling "weak" is popularly substituted in place of the last word in the line "See their team is weakening."Putnam, Judy. "How I finally learned MSU's fight song lyrics," ''Lansing'' (MI) ''State Journal'', Tuesday, December 8, 2015.
Retrieved August 30, 2022. During football games, fans switch the lyrics from the current "Go right through for MSU" back to the former line, “Smash right through that line of blue"–a jab at Michigan.[
]
Versions
Two arrangements of the fight song are played.
*Falcone Fight is named for its arranger, longtime Spartan Marching Band Director Leonard Falcone. It includes the opening verse, the chorus (sung by the band with tuba and percussion accompaniment), the breakstrain, and a repeat of the chorus (played by all). This version requires about 1m:40s to play, and is performed in parade marches and in longer breaks during games, such as between football quarters or hockey periods.
*Pregame Fight is a shorter arrangement by former Spartan Marching Band Assistant Director Bill Moffit (1960-1969), about 35 seconds long, that only includes the breakstrain (as introduction) and chorus. It is played during the football pregame show, after touchdowns and during game breaks (such as basketball timeouts) when time constraints prevent the full "Falcone" version. A shorter excerpt of this arrangement is frequently used during games to celebrate good plays; known as "C" for the rehearsal letter in the musical score, it begins at the line "See their team is weakening".
References
External links
MSU Carillon, Sounds and Video Samples
— .wav
Waveform Audio File Format (WAVE, or WAV due to its filename extension; pronounced "wave") is an audio file format standard, developed by IBM and Microsoft, for storing an audio bitstream on PCs. It is the main format used on Microsoft Win ...
samples of MSU Fight Song and Alma Mater song.
Big Ten College Football Fight Songs
— MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
files of all the Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
fight songs and other cheers.
{{Big Ten fight songs
Michigan State University
American college songs
College fight songs in the United States
Big Ten Conference fight songs