Victory for MSU

"Victory for MSU" is the official fight song of Michigan State University, USA. 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,^[1] 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 and is frequently sung by students and alumni. Upon the song's 100th anniversary, it was officially renamed from the "MSU Fight Song" to "Victory for MSU".^[2]

It has been ranked as the #6 best college fight song by the BleacherReport^[3] and called one of the NCAA's best fight songs by ESPN.^[4]

Lyrics

Lankey's original lyrics reflected the school's role as an agricultural college, as well as its rivalry with the University of Michigan. 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. In addition, whereas the original lyrics referred specifically to an American football 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").

The modern lyrics:^[5]

On the banks of the Red Cedar,

There's a school that's known to all

Its specialty is winning

And those Spartans play goodball;

Spartan teams are never beaten,

All through the game they fight;

Fight for the only colors:

Green and White.

Go right through for MSU,

Watch the points keep growing,

Spartan teams are bound to win,

They're fighting with a vim!

Rah! Rah! Rah!

See their team is weakening,

We're going to win this game,

Fight! Fight! Rah! Team, Fight!

Victory for MSU!

For games against Michigan, Spartan fans frequently replace "Go right through for MSU" with the original "Smash right through that line of blue" (referring to the Michigan defensive line) and "See their team is weakening" with the original "Michigan is weakening."

Breakstrain

Even though the breakstrain^[6] is rarely sung, the band still plays it in transition.

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".

Notes

↑ MSU Alumni Association Magazine, Winter 2006, p. 5.
↑ "Michigan State changes fight song title". Detroit Free Press. September 30, 2015.
↑ Ranking the Top 50 College Fight Songs
↑ The stories behind NCAA's best fight songs - ESPN
↑ "Michigan State Official Athletic Site". www.msuspartans.com. Retrieved 2015-12-13.
↑ "Breakstrain lyrics". MSU. Archived from the original on 2007-07-06. Retrieved 2011-05-02.

External links

MSU Carillon, Sounds and Video Samples — .wav samples of MSU Fight Song and Alma Mater song.
Big Ten College Football Fight Songs — MP3 files of all the Big Ten fight songs and other cheers.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/891006-power-ranking-the-top-50-college-football-fight-songs#/articles/891006-power-ranking-the-top-50-college-football-fight-songs/page/46
http://espn.go.com/blog/playbook/sounds/post/_/id/2532/college-footballs-tradition-of-fear-through-anthem

Michigan State University
Located in: East Lansing, Michigan
Academics	Broad College of Business Engineering Honors College Hospitality Business Human Medicine James Madison Law Lyman Briggs Natural Science Nursing Osteopathic Medicine Packaging RCAH Veterinary Medicine
Athletics	Basketbowl The Big Chill at the Big House Breslin Center Championships Clockgate Cold War Field Hockey Forest Akers Golf Courses Football Game of the Century Hockey Izzone Jenison Fieldhouse Land Grant Trophy Men's Basketball Women's Basketball Munn Ice Arena Old Brass Spittoon Paul Bunyan Trophy Michigan–Michigan State basketball rivalry Michigan–Michigan State ice hockey rivalry Spartan Stadium Sparty Old College Field Drayton McLane Baseball Stadium at John H. Kobs Field Volleyball Zeke the Wonder Dog
Campus	Beal Garden Beaumont Tower Broad Art Museum Cowles House Demonstration Hall East Lansing Eppley Center Grand River Ave. Horticulture Gardens Laboratory Row Library Observatory Pavilion Red Cedar River The Rock Student Union Wharton Center
History	Walter Adams William James Beal College Hall John A. Hannah John C. Holmes MISTIC MSUG Saints' Rest Joseph R. Williams
Research	Facility for Rare Isotope Beams Hidden Lake Gardens Kellogg Biological Station Life Sciences Corridor National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory SOAR Telescope University Research Corridor
People	Rick Comley Mark Dantonio Mark Hollis Tom Izzo Ron Mason Lou Anna Simon
Student life	Capital News Service Housing "Victory for MSU" Spartan Marching Band The State News WDBM MSU Telecasters WKAR (AM/FM/TV) Fraternities and sororities
Founded: 1855 Students: 50,543 Endowment: 2.225 billion Images

Michigan State Spartans football
Venues	Old College Field (1902–1922) Spartan Stadium (1923–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Indiana (Old Brass Spittoon) Michigan (Paul Bunyan Trophy) Notre Dame (Megaphone Trophy) Penn State (Land Grant Trophy)
Culture & lore	Sparty "Victory for MSU" Marching band Zeke the Wonder Dog Winged football helmet 1966 "Game of the Century" Clockgate 2006 Northwestern game
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders NFL draftees
Seasons	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
National championship seasons in bold

Official fight songs of the Big Ten Conference

Illinois Loyalty and Oskee Wow-Wow (Illinois)
Indiana, Our Indiana (Indiana)
Iowa Fight Song (Iowa)
Maryland Fight Song and Maryland Victory (Maryland)
The Victors (Michigan)
Victory for MSU (Michigan State)
Minnesota Rouser (Minnesota)
Hail Varsity and Dear Old Nebraska U (There Is No Place Like Nebraska) (Nebraska)
Go U Northwestern (Northwestern)
Across the Field and Buckeye Battle Cry (Ohio State)
Fight On, State (Penn State)
Hail Purdue! (Purdue)
The Bells Must Ring (Rutgers)
On, Wisconsin! (Wisconsin)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.