"Texas Fight" is the official fight song of the University of Texas at Austin and was written by Colonel Walter S. Hunnicutt in collaboration with James E. King, then director of the Marlin High School Band. The words, as finally adopted by the school, were written by Burnett "Blondie" Pharr, the director of the Longhorn Band from 1917 to 1937.

It is sung to a fast tempo version of "Taps", a song played at many military funerals. The repeated strain contains portions of "The Eyes of Texas," the school's alma mater.

The words of the song as finally adopted were written by Burnett "Blondie" Pharr, director of the Longhorn Band from 1917 to 1937. "Texas Fight" is played following touchdowns and extra points at University of Texas (UT) football games, other Longhorn sports events, as well as on other occasions of celebration.

Alternate Lyrics

"Hail, Hail, the gang's all here" is rarely, if ever, sung. It is almost always replaced with "Give 'em hell, give 'em hell! Go, Horns, go!"

Another version often used at football games, particularly by students, is "Give 'em hell, give 'em hell! Make 'em eat shit!"., which was intended originally as a jab at the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Another version used at the annual Texas-OU game is "Give 'em hell, give 'em hell! OU sucks!" In a commercial for ESPN's College GameDay, Kirk Herbstreit improvised "Yeah, we're Texas, just north of Mexico. Home of the armadillo, black gold and El Arroyo..." before Longhorns coach Mack Brown says, "we don't freestyle 'Texas Fight', Big Boy." The A&M in "And it's goodbye to A&M" is often replaced by the current opponent of Texas if it is not A&M.

References

  • "Texas Fight" performed by the Texas Longhorn Band