Fightin' Texas Aggie War Hymn
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Aggie War Hymn is the war hymn of
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
; officially, the school does not have a fight song, but this fills the same role.


Lyrics

The lyrics and the melodies of the War Hymn are as follows: Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck!
Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck! First verse
''Melody:'' '' Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby'' by Les Applegate
All hail to dear old Texas A&M
Rally around Maroon and White
Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies
They are the boys who show the real old fight
That good old Aggie spirit thrills us
And makes us yell and yell and yell
So let's fight for dear old Texas A&M
We’re gonna beat you all to
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem
Rough! Tough! Real stuff! Texas A&M!

Second verse
''Melody:'' '' Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby'' by Les Applegate
Good-bye to Texas University
So long to the orange and the white
Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies
They are the boys that show the real old fight
The Eyes of Texas are upon you . . .”
That is the song they sing so well
So good-bye to Texas University
We’re gonna beat you all to
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem
Chig-gar-roo-gar-rem
Rough! Tough! Real stuff! Texas A&M!
Chant
''Melody from'' '' Le devin du village'' by
Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

Saw Varsity's horns off!
Saw Varsity's horns off!
Saw Varsity's horns off!
Short! A!
Varsity's horns are sawed off!
Varsity's horns are sawed off!
Varsity's horns are sawed off!
Short! A! (Whoop)
Outro
''Melody:'' '' A Hot Time in the Old Town'' by Theodore A. Metz and Joe Hayden
Late one night when the t-sips were in bed
Old Sul Ross took a lantern in the shed
The Aggie kicked it over, he winked and then he said,
"There’ll be a hot time in Austin tonight!"


History

J.V. "Pinky" Wilson, one of many Aggies who fought in
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, is attributed as the primary author of the song. Wilson combined several Aggie yells into a song called "Good-bye to Texas University." He wrote the lyrics in 1918 on the back of a letter from home while holed up in a trench during a battle in France. He later put the words to music after Armistice was signed and before he returned to the United States. Upon returning to Texas A&M in 1919, the song was frequently performed by a quartet that Wilson organized, called the "Cast-Iron Quartet." According to Aggie tradition, on one night in 1920, several of the Aggie Yell Leaders heard Wilson's quartet singing the song at a Bryan, TX theater during the intermission of a movie. The Yell Leaders were so impressed by the tune, they waited until after the regular show to meet him. During the meeting, they asked him to let them submit his work (the War Hymn) into a contest for a new fight song held in the fall. Wilson and his quartet quickly agreed to perform the Aggie War Hymn in the contest. They honed their skills for the contest over the summer where they met after working cattle in the evenings. While unofficial ceremonies were held before games during this time, they were still not University sanctioned activities. The contest for the fight song occurred during one of these unofficial midnight yells. It was held outside Sbisa Hall after the evening meal. It became such a success that the song was officially adopted that fall under its current title. The song is noted for beginning with ''
Recall Recall may refer to: * Recall (baseball), a baseball term * Recall (bugle call), a signal to stop * Recall (information retrieval), a statistical measure * ReCALL (journal), ''ReCALL'' (journal), an academic journal about computer-assisted langua ...
,'' an old
bugle call A bugle call is a short tune, originating as a military signal announcing scheduled and certain non-scheduled events on a military installation, battlefield, or ship. Historically, bugles, drums, and other loud musical instruments were used ...
, in the two different keys of the bugles in use by the US Army during World War I. It starts with the M1892 Field Trumpet in G, which is the "bugle" still in use today, and ends with the M1894 Field Trumpet in B-flat (aka, the "Trench Bugle"). This is a nod to Texas A&M's past as a military school. Indeed, for many years, the
Fightin' Texas Aggie Band The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band (also known as the Noble Men of Kyle Field, Kyle or just the Aggie Band) is the official marching band of Texas A&M University. Composed of over 400 men and women from the school's Texas A&M University Corps of Cade ...
's halftime show has begun with the drum major shouting "Recall! Step off on 'Hullabaloo!'" The starting phrase of the song, "Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck!" is widely thought to originate from an Old Army Aggie yell written in 1907, Texas A&M University president Jack K. Williams jokingly defined the phrase as
Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, United States. Their traditional territory was in northern Mississippi, northwestern and northern Alabama, western Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky. Their language is ...
Indian for "Beat the hell out of the University of Texas". The original song is actually the second verse of the hymn; in 1938, Wilson wrote another verse at the request of several Aggie students who thought the original was too focused on the Aggies' rivalry with the
University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...
. The additional lyrics comprise what is now the first verse of the song. However, the first verse has never caught on, in part because many felt it sounded too much like an
Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...
song. Thus, in practice, the second (original) verse is usually sung twice. The second verse opens with "Goodbye to texas university"; these words were chosen since Aggies refer to their principal athletic rival, Texas, as "texas university", or " t.u.", rather than "U.T.". Also, in practice, the phrase "sounds like hell" is inserted after the line "that is the song they sing so well"; however, the phrase is not officially part of the song. During the late 2010s, some fans started shouting "You!" after the line "The eyes of Texas are upon you" as well. After the second verse is sung twice, Aggie fans link their arms and legs, and sway left and right to replicate the motion of a saw blade; this is called "sawing Varsity's horns off" (before the Texas football team adopting the Longhorn as the official mascot, the team was simply known as "Varsity"). For years, when this happened during football games at
Kyle Field Kyle Field is an American football stadium in College Station, Texas located on the campus of Texas A&M University. It has been the home to the Texas A&M Aggies football team in rudimentary form since 1904, and as a permanent concrete stadium s ...
, this caused the entire west upper deck, including the press box, to sway. This often unnerved sportswriters who hadn't covered an Aggie game before, even though a sign in the press box warned that "the press box will move during the Aggie War Hymn." Renovations after the 2014 season lessened the swaying effect somewhat. In 1997, the song was rated as the No. 1 college fight song by ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
''. It was also used by
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
Flight Director
Gerry Griffin Gerald D. Griffin (born December 25, 1934) is an American aeronautical engineer and former NASA official, who served as a Flight controller, flight director during the Apollo program and director of Johnson Space Center, succeeding Christopher ...
to wake up astronauts in space from 1983 to 1995. The song was also used as a wakeup call on Day 11 of space mission
STS-121 STS-121 was a 2006 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by on its 32nd flight. The main purposes of the mission were to test new safety and repair techniques introduced following the Space Shuttle Columbia disas ...
for Texas A&M former student and mission specialist
Mike Fossum Michael Edward Fossum (born December 19, 1957, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) is a former American astronaut, engineer, and the Chief Operating Officer of Texas A&M University at Galveston. He flew into space on board the NASA Space Shuttle missio ...
. To honor the 100th anniversary of the writing of the hymn in 2018, Wilson's family members were honored with a ceremony on the 50-yard line at
Kyle Field Kyle Field is an American football stadium in College Station, Texas located on the campus of Texas A&M University. It has been the home to the Texas A&M Aggies football team in rudimentary form since 1904, and as a permanent concrete stadium s ...
in front of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band during halftime of Texas A&M's home game against
Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...
on November 10. The hymn was also performed during the state funeral of George H. W. Bush during his casket's arrival in College Station for interment at the Bush Library, as the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band played it following "
Hail to the Chief "Hail to the Chief" is a piece originally announcing arrival by boat at an island in a Scottish loch, but today it is best known as the personal anthem of the president of the United States, adapted by James Sanderson from an original Scottis ...
".


References


External links

*
Video
(Texas A&M Official Video)
Sound file
(from Association of Former Students web site)
description in ''Kingman Daily Miner''ESPN column on the wording
{{Southeastern Conference fight song navbox War hymn War hymn American college songs Southeastern Conference fight songs Songs about Texas