Tiger Rag Argument

CU_Sig · 2008-03-07T15:58:36.652Z

Just got this email from a buddy of mine. I didn't know the answer, so I thought someone on Tigernet may be able to help. His message is below. Thanks in advance! Hey man. I know this is random, but we have a client here this morning talking all kinds of noise about clemson...hes from LSU. He says that since we stole our fight song from them, when we played in the peach bowl against them in 99, that we agreed not to play it at the game. Is this true???

Stealin2nd

Rival Killer [3058]

TigerPulse: 100%

Posts: 2452

Joined: 2005

1935 Read the 3rd paragraph down

Mar 7, 2008, 11:03 AM

Never ask a Tiger Band member

Tiger Rag

Another song that has been adopted (and adapted) by Clemson University was recently named as one of the first 50 songs added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. "Tiger Rag," which is known more affectionately to Tiger fans as "The Song that Shakes the Southland," was part of the first commercial record produced by a jazz group in 1917. The band was known as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, though they were based out of Chicago.

The song has changed a good deal since the 1917 production to become the rendition played over and over again in car radios, speakers and by the band itself on Clemson game days. The first change can be attributed to Paul Yoder, a Tacoma, Wash. native that never heard Clemson play the song until the mid-1960s. Yoder assembled a collection of popular songs in the 1930s and converted them into a fast-paced tune fitting for marching bands. Included in the list of over 20 songs was "Tiger Rag."

At the same time, Dr. Edwin Freeman, for whom Freeman Hall is named, was creating a unique fight song for Clemson, "Tiger Rag." The song was originally played by the band in 1935, but never won favor with the cadets of the time. "As the Caissons Go Rolling Along," which has ties to the U.S. Army, was also used as the school's fight song in early cadet years.

A Clemson cadet and band member, Robert Dean Ross, decided a few years later that he had found the song that he believed "would be a tune we could play every now and then - when the team scored, and at no other time, because we were afraid of over-playing it." He purchased the sheet music from the Old Southern Music Company in Atlanta, and the Tiger Band played their first rendition of "Tiger Rag" in 1942.

The song was a hit in Tiger Town from the beginning and has become one of the main traditions associated with Clemson. Still, the song is not Clemson's official fight song because the pace that the song is played eliminates the ability to incorporate the lyrics. The song is officially the University's pep tune since a fight song by definition must have lyrics. No matter the official title, no other song can excite orange blooded fans any better.

"It's basically the center of Clemson spirit," said Tiger Band director Dr. Mark Spede. "As far as music goes, it's the all-important Clemson pep tune."

Though a few schools use "Tiger Rag" as a means of rallying fans and players at sporting events, no one does it quite like Clemson, according to the man that made it all possible. Yoder found himself a life-long Clemson fan after his first visit to a football game on band day due to the energy, the people and the beauty of the campus. He was quoted as saying he pictures Clemson as being at home "smoking a big cigar and wearing a Derby hat."

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

Tiger Rag Argument

tell the LSU fan we want our "death valley" back

1935 Read the 3rd paragraph down

BTW Dean Ross is still living in Gaffney now. Great guy,

He must be confused. We did not play LSU in 1999 Peach Bowl

Tell him that we played Miss St. in 99 peach bowl, not LSU

Death Valley vs Deaf Valley

TigerBoard POTD