Aggie War Hymn

The Aggie War Hymn is the war hymn of Texas A&M University; officially, the school does not have a fight song.

History

It was written by J.V. "Pinky" Wilson, one of many Aggies who fought in World War I. Wilson combined several Aggie yells then in use at the time 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 had organized, called the "Cast-Iron Quartet."

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 and they asked him to let them submit it in a contest for a new fight song to be held that fall. Wilson agreed, and the song was performed by the quartet during a yell practice. No midnight yell was occurring at this point in time. 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, an old bugle call, in two different keys. These are the keys of the bugles in use by the US Army during World War I, the M1894 Field Trumpet in B-flat (aka, the "Trench Bugle") and the M1896 Field Trumpet in G, which is the "bugle" still in use today. This is a nod to Texas A&M's past as a military school. Indeed, for many years, the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band's halftime show has begun with the drum major shouting "Recall! Step off on 'Hullabaloo!'"

The starting phrase of the song, "Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck!" was widely thought to originate from an Old Army Aggie yell written in 1907,^[1] though other uses of the phrase have been recorded as early as 1889 at Johns Hopkins University.^[2] The Hullabaloo is also the "Varsity Yell" for the Tulane University Greenwave. Texas A&M University president Jack K. Williams jokingly defined the phrase as Chickasaw Indian for "Beat the hell out of the University of Texas".^[3]

The original song is actually the second verse of the hymn; in 1928, 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 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 song. Thus, in practice, the second (original) verse is usually sung twice.^[4]

The second verse opens with "Goodbye to texas university"; these words were chosen since Aggies refer to their principal athletic rival, the University of 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.

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"). When this happens during football games at Kyle Field, this causes the entire west upper deck, including the press box, to sway. This often unnerves sportswriters who haven't covered an Aggie game before.^[5]^[6]

The song concludes with the chorus of There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight.

In 1997, the song was rated as the No. 1 college fight song by USA Today. It was also used by NASA Flight Director Gerry Griffin to wake up astronauts in space from 1983 to 1995.^[7]

The song was also used as a wakeup call on Day 11 of space mission STS-121 for Texas A&M former student and mission specialist Mike Fossum.

References

^ "Traditions Trivia". Texas A&M University Student Government Association. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2008-08-04. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ The Beta Theta Pi, Volume 17. the Fraternity Cincinnati. Retrieved 2012-04-02.
^ Ferrell, Christopher. "Williams' drive, humor spearheaded growth at A&M". The Bryan-College Station Eagle. Retrieved 2008-08-05.^{[dead link‍]}
^ "School Songs". Texas A&M Singing Cadets. Archived from the original on 11 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Drehs, Wayne (November 26, 2003). "Follow the yell Leaders!". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2007-02-28. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^ Wood, Ryan (2007-10-27). "A moving experience". The Lawrence Journal-World. Archived from the original on 30 November 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-06. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ Foreman, Jim (2005-03-21). "War Hymn is fine the way it is, the spirit is with the students". The Battalion. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

Editorial on War Hymn in The Battalion, the school newspaper
Sound file (from Association of Former Students web site)
description in Kingman Daily Miner
ESPN column on the wording

[1] "Traditions Trivia". Texas A&M University Student Government Association. Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2008-08-04. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[2] The Beta Theta Pi, Volume 17. the Fraternity Cincinnati. Retrieved 2012-04-02.

[3] Ferrell, Christopher. "Williams' drive, humor spearheaded growth at A&M". The Bryan-College Station Eagle. Retrieved 2008-08-05.^{[dead link‍]}

[4] "School Songs". Texas A&M Singing Cadets. Archived from the original on 11 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[drehs-5] Drehs, Wayne (November 26, 2003). "Follow the yell Leaders!". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2007-02-28. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

[6] Wood, Ryan (2007-10-27). "A moving experience". The Lawrence Journal-World. Archived from the original on 30 November 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-06. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[7] Foreman, Jim (2005-03-21). "War Hymn is fine the way it is, the spirit is with the students". The Battalion. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-08-09. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

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v t e Texas A&M Aggies football
Venues	Kyle Field (1904–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Arkansas Baylor: Battle of the Brazos LSU TCU Texas Texas Tech
Culture & lore	Reveille "Aggie War Hymn" Aggie Band 12th man Aggie Bonfire Junction Boys film Sherman era Highest scoring Division I game
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders NFL draftees
Seasons	1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball
Venues	DeWare Field House (1924–1954) G. Rollie White Coliseum (1954–1997) Reed Arena (1998–present)
Rivalries	Texas
Culture & lore	Reed Rowdies "Aggie War Hymn"
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
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