This Just In ...

"Plunge Right Through That Line!"

Posted by Kevin Fischer on Sept. 1, 2009 | 3 comments

One of the greatest college football fight songs, "On Wisconsin" celebrates its 100^th anniversary this year. The UW Marching Band website says:


“The melody of this famous song was composed in 1909 by W.T. Purdy, a corporation clerk who prior to that time had never set foot in Wisconsin. The words were supplied by Carl Beck, a former University of Wisconsin student. In the parlor of a Chicago boarding house, it took them only several evenings to compose. The pair (who worked for $10 per day each) couldn't scare up the $50 it took to publish the tune. They got a $10 credit from a firm of music plate engravers, used the credit for reference at the printers, and had 500 copies hastily printed.

Written accounts of the earliest performances of On Wisconsin reveal that the first performance occurred on November 10, 1909, when it was sung by the ‘Glee Club’."

 

That was then....this is now.


GO BADGERS!


 

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Plunge right through that line!
Run the ball clear down the field,
A touchdown sure this time. (U rah rah)
On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Fight on for her fame
Fight! Fellows! - fight, fight, fight!
We'll win this game.

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Stand up, Badgers, sing!
"Forward" is our driving spirit,
Loyal voices ring.
On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!
Raise her glowing flame
Stand, Fellows, let us now
Salute her name!