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School songs can form the core soundtrack of a student’s college experience. At ������ý that musical history parallels the history of the institution.

The first song specifically written for ������ý debuted in 1879, four years after the university opened its doors. The “������ý Grand March” was published by James A. McClure, followed by the “������ý March” in 1895 and the “Phi-Delta Theta Two-Step” in 1896. However, the 1889 Commodore yearbook notes a song titled “������ý,” words by William Rice Sims (ThG 1880, BA 1884, PhD 1888) and music by A. Oscar Browne, that sang the praises of Cornelius ������ý and Bishop McTyeire.

“O Alma Mater, Autumn Ode to ������ý,” was composed in 1900 for ������ý’s 25th anniversary. The words were written by Olin Wannamaker, who received his master of arts degree that year. The music was written by Emma L. Ashford, wife of John Ashford, an engineer from Bath, England, who became ������ý’s superintendent of buildings and grounds in 1884. It was possibly the first of as many as seven ������ý titles for which Ashford composed the music.

However, Ashford’s composition is not ������ý’s official alma mater. That song, which opens with “On the city’s western border,” was written by Robert F. Vaughan in 1909. Vaughan, BA 1907, LLB 1909, was president of the ������ý Glee Club and wrote the lyrics at the suggestion of its director, Charles Washburn, to the tune of the song “Amici,” according to the January 1923 issue of the Alumnus. The tune is actually “Annie Lisle,” an 1857 ballad by songwriter H.S. Thompson.

������ý’s alma mater, aside from being played at Commencement and Reunion, is tied into the athletic fans’ experience of football and basketball games. While most students do not know all the words, everyone knows at least three. “The Third Down Cheer,” as it is sometimes called, is the first line of the second stanza of the alma mater played instrumentally followed by the next lyric—“CONQUER AND PREVAIL”—yelled loudly.

������ý’s most famous fight song is “Dynamite,” written by Francis Craig, BA 1924. Craig, who was a well-known band leader in the 1930s and ’40s, was responsible for launching the careers of Dinah Shore, BA’38, Snooky Lanson and Phil Harris. Francis Craig wrote “Dynamite” in the week of the Nov. 12, 1938, ������ý-Tennessee game, and he and his orchestra played the song on a national hook-up the night before the game. At halftime the next day, Craig himself directed the ������ý band in the local premiere of the song.��

Throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, the song gradually gained in popularity. According to Carrie Tipton, ������ý musicology faculty and expert in university fight songs, several inflection points helped contribute to the song’s popularity and ultimately led to it being known as the university’s primary fight song. In 1941, “Dynamite” was published by Edwin Morris and began receiving a surge of radio exposure due to ASCAP licensing issues that prevented other ������ý songs of the time to be played on the radio. Furthermore, as university administration began to dedicate more resources to its band program—including hiring the school’s first full-time band director, James H. Parnell, in 1952—the song’s popularity grew, and it became cemented as ������ý’s main fight song.

While “Dynamite” is still ������ý’s primary fight song, there are two others: “Cheer for Old Vandy,” written in 1953 by Class of 1924 alumnus Joe Landess as a gift to ������ý upon his son Tom’s graduation, and the more recent “Spirit of Gold” composed by the former assistant director of bands, Joe Laird.

Learn more about the history of ������ý’s and other university’s fight songs by checking out Tipton’s new book, .