Question: When did Rammer Jammer start?

[Luvubama]

We were watching the '79 Sugar Bowl game and my son who is at Alabama now asked me if we used to yell that when i was there. I remember it (and also remember we'd start it with 4-5 min left in the game) but I don't remember if we were saying it the year I started '74 or if it came after that. Anyone remember when we started that cheer???

 

[TIDE-HSV]

We were watching the '79 Sugar Bowl game and my son who is at Alabama now asked me if we used to yell that when i was there. I remember it (and also remember we'd start it with 4-5 min left in the game) but I don't remember if we were saying it the year I started '74 or if it came after that. Anyone remember when we started that cheer???

When I was there, ending up with law school in '63, it wasn't being used. It's really an adaptation of the Ole Miss cheer and, until recently, anyway, it was referred to as the "Mississippi cheer." I seem to remember hearing it in the mid-late '70s. Anyway, we've made it ours...

 

[CrimsonJag]

It's "ours" probably because we have a lot more opportunities to use it in victory as opposed to Ole Sissy.

 

[SCrammerjammer]

It started during Pregame and raised the roof 'bout 3/4 way through the 4th quarter with game in hand. Words changed from we're GONNA to we JUST.

 

[Bamabelle in ga]

It was definately taken from Ole Miss many years ago, probably the 70s. I remember hearing the Ole Miss student section sing it to us. We put our own spin on it, adding the Rammer Jammer.... I imagine it bothers them that we stole it but oh well.

 

[exiledNms]

It started during Pregame and raised the roof 'bout 3/4 way through the 4th quarter with game in hand. Words changed from we're GONNA to we JUST.

In my day there--early to mid 80s--we did both. "We're gonna..." and "We just..."

And I do remember sitting near the band & hearing "Ole Miss cheer" called for.

 

[CoastGhost]

We were watching the '79 Sugar Bowl game and my son who is at Alabama now asked me if we used to yell that when i was there. I remember it (and also remember we'd start it with 4-5 min left in the game) but I don't remember if we were saying it the year I started '74 or if it came after that. Anyone remember when we started that cheer???

Don't remember it in 74-76

 

[GulfCoastTider]

Schools "borrow" cheers from each other all the time.

Florida "borrowed" our "GOOOO BAMA!!!" cheer and horribly mutated it into "GOOOO GAYTORS!"

 

[thetideinmd]

i remember being at games in the mid-80's and hearing it before KO, "we're gonna" then at the end of the game with a few minutes to play, "we just".

what's funny, my wife is still new to this craziness called Alabama Football and she can't wait for a win and to hear Rammer Jammer. :biggrin2:

 

[whitman]

Cheer 6, aka "the high school cheer", aka "Roll, Tide, Roll", was borrowed from Michigan (Let's Go Blue), which is actually a trombone part in Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride."

 

[Jon]

From wikipedia, so you know it's true

The "Rammer Jammer Cheer" is a traditional and controversial cheer. The university briefly forbade the Million Dollar Band from playing it, on account of its taunting nature and its use of the word "hell".[1] The move was met with a significant amount of criticism. In a vote at Homecoming 2005, the question was posed to students of whether the cheer should be banned. 98% of students voted in favor of keeping the cheer.[2] Before the university's attempt to remove the cheer, it was played before kickoff and at the end of the game. The cheer is now only played in the closing minutes when victory is certain, and is traditionally chanted twice. On at least one occasion (during Alabama's victory over Auburn in the 2008 Iron Bowl--Alabama's first in the series since 2001) it was repeated an additional three times. Fans cheer:

Hey Vols!
Hey Vols!
Hey Vols!
We just beat the hell out of you!
Rammer Jammer, Yellowhammer, give 'em hell, Alabama!

The nickname of the current opponent is substituted for "Vols", (short for Volunteers, the nickname for the University of Tennessee) except when the opponent is Auburn, in which case the name "Auburn" is used rather than its nickname of Tigers. Also, when the cheer was played before kickoff, fans would replace the lyrics "We just" with "We're gonna."

The lyrics originate from "The Rammer-Jammer," a student newspaper in the 1920s, and the yellowhammer, Alabama's state bird. The cadence of the cheer was adapted from the Ole Miss cheer "Hotty Toddy" after then Ole Miss marching band director Dr. James Ferguson was appointed director of the Million Dollar Band. The cheer was long referred to as "Ole Miss", and today the drum major's signal is still the motioning of one arm in a full circle (an 'O').

IIRC, there was some controversy over this cheer when I was in school. Bill Curry disliked it and the MDB wouldn't play the real version so it was done to Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll" or started up by a few loud drunks in the Student section (Proud to be one of them). Once Curry ran away it was brought back under Stalling's for good. Seriously doubt it will disappear again any time soon

J

 

[bamapair]

Did anyone besides me hear it at the end of the Oregon/Oregon State game this year.

 

[Vinny]

I was watching a replay on espn classic of an old Iron Bowl from the early to mid 80s and Rammer Jammer was being played frequently :hurray:

 

[derek4tide]

I was watching a replay on espn classic of an old Iron Bowl from the early to mid 80s and Rammer Jammer was being played frequently :hurray:

I remember doing it before KOs in 1984-1988. Oh, and did you know we stole it???DT_Armataz_10:

 

[RobK]

Speaking of other teams "borrowing stuff", I caught part of the Iowa/Northwestern game on TV earlier this year. During a break in the action (prior to a kickoff I believe), I distinctly heard "Sweet Home Alabama" being played over the Iowa stadium's PA system as fans were cheering along. Kinda weird, but kinda cool...

 

[bama_fan01]

what's funny, my wife is still new to this craziness called Alabama Football and she can't wait for a win and to hear Rammer Jammer.

That's nothing...I've been a Bama fan since the mid-60's, and I still can't wait for a win and hearing Rammer Jammer! :biggrin2:

 

[RollTideMang]

I read a comment on one of ESPN's articles that said when Fran left for A&M, Oklahoma did the Rammer Jammer to them when OU whipped them pretty badly one year. (not sure if this is true. anyone know?)

 

[crimsonboy]

We were watching the '79 Sugar Bowl game and my son who is at Alabama now asked me if we used to yell that when i was there. I remember it (and also remember we'd start it with 4-5 min left in the game) but I don't remember if we were saying it the year I started '74 or if it came after that. Anyone remember when we started that cheer???

I know Rammer Jammer was played before kickoffs in the 90's.

My son is also at Alabama now but I still remember his first Alabama game (he was 7 years old), the opening game of the season and of Dubose's tenure - 1997 vs. Houston. He was so excited, he insisted that we get to the stadium early, resulting in getting to Legion Field at least 1 hour before kickoff.

Well, while we waited for the kickoff, the Rammer Jammer cheer was chanted. I did a subtle side look at him, hoping he hadn't heard the "hell" part. Well, by half-time we were up by about 4 touchdowns and sweat was pouring off his face so he was ready to go. As we were walking out of the stadium, he looks up at me ever so innocently and exclaims, "Daddy, they were right, we did beat the hell out of them."

 

[bamatrader]

Can anyone tell me how the phrase "RAMMER JAMMER YELLOW(YELLER) HAMMER" makes any sense? Looks to me that there could have been better words used. I also hate singing this song when we barely pull one out in the end.... "We just beat the he$$ out of you" does not really apply alot of times. It could be sung "I am gald we had the ball last"!

 

[GMacFan]

Rammer Jammer was the name of a student newspaper in the 1920's at Bama. Yellow Hammer is the Alabama state bird. And I agree we shouldn't sing it every game, only when we truly beat the hell out of a team, it would make it sweeter and more savory...unless its Auburn. Every Auburn game we must sing it.