Dynamite (fight song)



"Dynamite" is the official fight song of Vanderbilt University, written by Francis Craig in 1922, when Craig was an undergraduate student at the University. It is played mainly at football games, basketball games, and at other Commodore sports events.

"Dynamite" traditions
The fight song is traditionally played when the team runs through the "V" formed by the university marching band before football games, when a touchdown is scored, and at the end of the game before the playing of the Vanderbilt alma mater.

During basketball games, the fight song is played when the team runs out onto the court, shortened versions are played during some timeouts, and the whole song is played immediately after the game concludes.

Recently, students have begun using the "V-U hand signal," discussed in the main Vanderbilt article, during the fight song while they spell "Vandy" and chant the end of the cheer.

Beginning in 2003, the Spirit of Gold Marching Band coordinated with Vanderbilt's cheerleaders to develop a "dynamite plunger" prop for Mr. Commodore, the costumed mascot of the university, to use while the band prepared to play the fight song in the university's football pre-game show.

Mr. Commodore would, accompanied by an announcer on the public address system, wheel out the jumbo-sized "plunger" while the announcer said, "It looks like Mr. Commodore's got&mdash;yes! It's dynamite!" The mascot would push the "plunger" and the band would then play the fight song.