University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Fight Song
Every home game that the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns play in, the familiar tune called the Fight Song is played. All the fans get up and clap while singing along. Even on road games when the band is not present in the stands, the fans will still sing the words to the fight song after a touchdown or field goal is made.
History of the Fight Song
In 1950, for the 50 year celebration of SLI, a contest was being held by the Student Government to come up with a fight song for the school. The prize was a $100 savings bond. Before the fight song, the band would play other schools songs to excite the crowd, but it was felt that the SLI needed a fight song of its own.
A writer for the Vermilion, Hilma Labauve, saw an article in the Vermilion about the contest. She had a little tune playing over and over for quite some time and thought that it was quite a catchy melody. Since she could not arrange music, she asked her brother, Jack Labauve, to put it on paper as an arrangement. Jack Labauve was a music instructor at the time. Hilma hummed it, and Jack arranged the music. They finished right before deadline and submitted it on the last day of the contest.
Some time later, Hilma received a phone call from the president of the Student Government saying that she was one of the five finalist. However, the Student Government president thought that it may have a better chance of winning if it had words. In the rush of submitting the music, she forgot to add words. So the president gave the music back for her to add words to the song. She borrowed some old war books to find words that were war-like, such as triumph and glory, and added them to the fight song.
A concert was held later that year with the band and the chorus and all the finalists songs were played and sung. In the end, the students that attended the concert voted her song as the school's fight song.
Original Words of the Fight Song
Throughout the years, the Fight Song that we have come to know and love today has been change. The first major change was that the Fight Song had the word Bulldogs where Cajuns is today. When the school's mascot changed, it was changed in the Fight Song.
The other change in the words is for the part saying, "Hustle up and bustle up." The original words were, "Hustle up and rustle up," as in to rustle up the spirit of the team. Somewhere through history, it was changed to, "Hustle up and bustle up," as in to hurry up. In fact, Hilma is a member of the Red Jackets and was on hand to meet Coach Rickey Bustle. She introduced herself and jokingly apologized for his name being in the Fight Song.
Next time you are at a Ragin' Cajuns sporting event, remember what Hilma and Jack Labauve did as you are singing their song to cheer on the Cajuns to "triumph and glory."
Lyrics
Fight on, Cajuns, fight on to victory
For the Red and White,
We will sing of triumph and glory,
For our team tonight,
You will hear the rage of the Cajuns,
So let's give a yell,
Hustle up and bustle up and
Fight on to victory - Geaux UL
