Seventy years ago, Auburn’s now iconic “War Eagle” fight song was played publicly for the first time by the university’s band. The song was performed during the 1955 season opener.
Unlike previous songs like “Fight ’Em Tigers” or the “Auburn Victory March,” the new fight song was a rarity in the world of college football – it was composed by a professional songwriting team that had penned songs for Doris Day, Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis and other big names of the day.
The songwriting duo – Robert Allen (1927-2000) and Al Stillman (1906-1979) – were based in New York. In a 2011 interview for the book “Hidden History of Auburn,” Robert Allen’s widow, Patty Allen, said it was quite unusual for composers to be hired to write college fight songs, especially if those composers had already written legendary songs like “There’s No Place Like Home (for the Holidays)” and “Chances Are.”
“At the time, [Robert] was one of the most popular songwriters in the world,” Patty said.
Allen was a pianist, arranger and writer, while Stillman was a lyricist. Stillman was a staff writer for Radio City Music Hall for 40 years.
How did the well-known composers come to write Auburn’s fight song? They were contacted by Auburn alumnus Roy B. Sewell, who commissioned a new fight song with the permission of college officials. At the time, the university was known as the Alabama Polytechnic Institute but was commonly referred to as “Auburn.” The name was officially changed to Auburn University in 1960.
Auburn’s football team was on a roll in the 1950s, and Sewell, affectionately known as “Mr. War Eagle” and “Mr. Auburn,” paid the New York songwriting team to create a song “to express the spirit which has sparked the Tigers’ amazing football comeback.” How much he paid has not been reported.
Sewell, who was born in Randolph County, Ala., attended Auburn but didn’t graduate. Instead, he helped run his family’s prosperous Sewell Manufacturing Co., but he maintained a fierce love for the college and donated often, according to a 1974 article in the Opelika-Auburn News.
In 1978, the Rome News-Tribune in Georgia quoted Sewell at an event: “I love Auburn. I’ve loved Auburn as long as I can remember. And I love all the Auburn people.”
Allen and Stillman completed the song in 1954 and it was adopted as the official fight song in 1955. In the late 1950s, 45 rpm records of “War Eagle” were sent to people who joined the alumni association, according to Auburn University.
Interestingly, former Auburn Athletic Director David Housel said then-coach Shug Jordan’s response to the song was lukewarm.
Sewell, though, was thrilled with his contribution, saying “Boy, we have a peach of a song.”
These days, the Auburn University Marching Band plays the fight song at halftime and immediately following scoring. The song is also played by the carillon in the Samford Hall clock tower every day at noon.
The words are:
War Eagle, fly down the field/ Ever to conquer, never to yield/ War Eagle, fearless and true/ Fight on you orange and blue/ Go! Go! Go! On to vict’ry, strike up the band/ Give ‘em hell, give ‘em hell/ Stand up and yell, hey!/War Eagle, win for Auburn, Power of Dixieland!
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