20 November 2013
The most popular cheers at the state's rival universities – "Rammer Jammer" at Alabama and "Bodda Getta" at Auburn – have stirred controversy over the years and largely remain a mystery to opponents.
Each is beloved by its fans. Each is filled with nonsense words. Each taunts opponents. Each has a word that requires "bleeping" around young children.
And, as you can tell by their titles, they are anything but standard cheers.
As an epic Iron Bowl approaches Nov. 30 between unbeaten Alabama and one-loss Auburn, here's a look at the origins of these odd chants.
Bodda Getta
When I was writing my 2010 book "Hidden History of Auburn," I could find no university record or any other history of the "Bodda Getta" cheer. So I started making phone calls and gathered some history.
The words to the chant are:
Bodda getta, bodda getta, bodda getta, bah,
Rah, rah, rah,
Sis boom bah,
Weagle, weagle,
War Damn Eagle!
Kick 'em in the butt, Big Blue,
Hey!
And, as you can tell by their titles, they are anything but standard cheers.
As an epic Iron Bowl approaches Nov. 30 between unbeaten Alabama and one-loss Auburn, here's a look at the origins of these odd chants.
Bodda Getta
When I was writing my 2010 book "Hidden History of Auburn," I could find no university record or any other history of the "Bodda Getta" cheer. So I started making phone calls and gathered some history.
The words to the chant are:
Bodda getta, bodda getta, bodda getta, bah,
Rah, rah, rah,
Sis boom bah,
Weagle, weagle,
War Damn Eagle!
Kick 'em in the butt, Big Blue,
Hey!
No one seemed to remember the original spelling of the words—some say "bod" instead of "bah," some write "wegl" instead of "weagle." The spelling above became "official" when it was printed on T-shirts licensed by Auburn University and sold at local bookstores. Trey Johnston, a J&M owner, said in 2010 he devised the spelling of the chant because he had no written record on which to base it.
Eventually, I settled on the most plausible version of the chant's origins.
The year was 1965. The Auburn University Marching Band was welcoming its incoming freshmen members in the usual way. Each frosh was given a hat marked "RAT." Freshmen had long been nicknamed "rats" on many college campuses, and numerous colleges distributed rat caps, but at Auburn, RAT stood for "Rookie Auburn Tiger."
When rats joined the Auburn Marching Band, they were required to make up a cheer for the band to chant during football games that fall.
John Penick, class of 1969, and Mike Watson, who was a band "rat" in 1965, remember that "Bodda Getta" was created by a group of "rats" their freshman year.
"I recall that 'Body Getta' sort of developed as a chant, and it grew into a rhyming cheer with southern 'get 'er done' kind of language," Watson said. As Watson's pronunciation suggests, several people recall thinking the chant had to do with "body," as in getting a body up to cheer, and that it may have been initially pronounced "Body Get A."
Watson also said the reference to "Big Blue" came during a time when blue was Auburn's dominant color.
"Those were the days when Auburn fans cherished our 'blue heritage.' Tommy Tuberville switched us to orange in the 2000s," he said.
The chant may stem from a tradition in Auburn that goes back at least as far as 1897, when the school was Alabama Polytechnic Institute. Each class would have a "yell" to chant at functions or games, many including rhyming, nonsensical words.
In 1897, when the university's first edition of the "Glomerata" was published, it included senior class yells. The class of 1898 wrote this yell:
Sis—boom—ah!
'98, '98
Rah! Rah! Rah!
Hullabaloo—baloo—baloo
How d'ye do? How d'ye do?
Senior!
Forty-five years later, "Bodda Getta" has become part of Auburn's fabric. Many traditionalists don't like the cheer but admit that it has taken on a life of its own. A fundraising barbecue event in Auburn has been named the Bodda Getta BBQ and a book published by the Opelika-Auburn News to commemorate the 2010 national championship is called "Bodda Getta: Auburn's Remarkable Run."
Rammer Jammer
The "Rammer Jammer" cheer was created nearly two decades after "Bodda Getta," according to an account by cheerleaders in an article in The Tuscaloosa News.
The cheer has been banned at periods since its inception in about 1982 because of its taunting nature and use of the word "hell."
The words to Rammer Jammer, when Alabama is playing Auburn:
Hey Auburn!
Hey Auburn!
Hey Auburn!
We're gonna beat the hell outta' you!
Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer
Give 'em hell, Alabama!
When played after the game, "we just" is substituted for "we're gonna."
The words "rammer jammer" were derived from the name of a defunct student magazine that was published for several decades beginning the 1920s.
The Tuscaloosa News quoted Kathleen Cramer, retired from UA's office of student affairs, stating the chant was created by cheerleaders on a bus ride back from the Mississippi State game in about 1982. She didn't remember the exact year, but if it was written in 1982, it would have been created during Bear Bryant's last year as coach.
Cramer, who was the cheerleading sponsor at the time, said the cadence for the chant was based on the infamous "Hotty Toddy" cheer at Ole Miss.
"It was patterned after that," Cramer said. "We wanted to incorporate old cheers, as well as things particular to this state. And it was immediately popular."
Here are the words to "Hotty Toddy:"
Are you ready?
Hell, yeah! Damn right!
Hotty Toddy, Gosh almighty
Who the hell are we, Hey!
Flim Flam, Bim Bam
Ole Miss, by damn!
In thinking of symbols unique to the state, the Alabama cheerleaders settled on yellowhammer, the state bird, because it rhymed with Rammer Jammer.
In the 1990s, the university banned the cheer because of its taunting nature and inclusion of the word "hell," according to The Bleacher Report. When the issue was put to students for a vote at Homecoming 2005, 98 percent voted to keep the cheer. However, it is now only chanted following a Crimson Tide victory.
Today, Rammer Jammer is the name of a locally made light beer, as well as the title of a 2004 book about obsessive sports fans "Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania."
Eventually, I settled on the most plausible version of the chant's origins.
The year was 1965. The Auburn University Marching Band was welcoming its incoming freshmen members in the usual way. Each frosh was given a hat marked "RAT." Freshmen had long been nicknamed "rats" on many college campuses, and numerous colleges distributed rat caps, but at Auburn, RAT stood for "Rookie Auburn Tiger."
When rats joined the Auburn Marching Band, they were required to make up a cheer for the band to chant during football games that fall.
John Penick, class of 1969, and Mike Watson, who was a band "rat" in 1965, remember that "Bodda Getta" was created by a group of "rats" their freshman year.
"I recall that 'Body Getta' sort of developed as a chant, and it grew into a rhyming cheer with southern 'get 'er done' kind of language," Watson said. As Watson's pronunciation suggests, several people recall thinking the chant had to do with "body," as in getting a body up to cheer, and that it may have been initially pronounced "Body Get A."
Watson also said the reference to "Big Blue" came during a time when blue was Auburn's dominant color.
"Those were the days when Auburn fans cherished our 'blue heritage.' Tommy Tuberville switched us to orange in the 2000s," he said.
The chant may stem from a tradition in Auburn that goes back at least as far as 1897, when the school was Alabama Polytechnic Institute. Each class would have a "yell" to chant at functions or games, many including rhyming, nonsensical words.
In 1897, when the university's first edition of the "Glomerata" was published, it included senior class yells. The class of 1898 wrote this yell:
Sis—boom—ah!
'98, '98
Rah! Rah! Rah!
Hullabaloo—baloo—baloo
How d'ye do? How d'ye do?
Senior!
Forty-five years later, "Bodda Getta" has become part of Auburn's fabric. Many traditionalists don't like the cheer but admit that it has taken on a life of its own. A fundraising barbecue event in Auburn has been named the Bodda Getta BBQ and a book published by the Opelika-Auburn News to commemorate the 2010 national championship is called "Bodda Getta: Auburn's Remarkable Run."
Rammer Jammer
The "Rammer Jammer" cheer was created nearly two decades after "Bodda Getta," according to an account by cheerleaders in an article in The Tuscaloosa News.
The cheer has been banned at periods since its inception in about 1982 because of its taunting nature and use of the word "hell."
The words to Rammer Jammer, when Alabama is playing Auburn:
Hey Auburn!
Hey Auburn!
Hey Auburn!
We're gonna beat the hell outta' you!
Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer
Give 'em hell, Alabama!
When played after the game, "we just" is substituted for "we're gonna."
The words "rammer jammer" were derived from the name of a defunct student magazine that was published for several decades beginning the 1920s.
The Tuscaloosa News quoted Kathleen Cramer, retired from UA's office of student affairs, stating the chant was created by cheerleaders on a bus ride back from the Mississippi State game in about 1982. She didn't remember the exact year, but if it was written in 1982, it would have been created during Bear Bryant's last year as coach.
Cramer, who was the cheerleading sponsor at the time, said the cadence for the chant was based on the infamous "Hotty Toddy" cheer at Ole Miss.
"It was patterned after that," Cramer said. "We wanted to incorporate old cheers, as well as things particular to this state. And it was immediately popular."
Here are the words to "Hotty Toddy:"
Are you ready?
Hell, yeah! Damn right!
Hotty Toddy, Gosh almighty
Who the hell are we, Hey!
Flim Flam, Bim Bam
Ole Miss, by damn!
In thinking of symbols unique to the state, the Alabama cheerleaders settled on yellowhammer, the state bird, because it rhymed with Rammer Jammer.
In the 1990s, the university banned the cheer because of its taunting nature and inclusion of the word "hell," according to The Bleacher Report. When the issue was put to students for a vote at Homecoming 2005, 98 percent voted to keep the cheer. However, it is now only chanted following a Crimson Tide victory.
Today, Rammer Jammer is the name of a locally made light beer, as well as the title of a 2004 book about obsessive sports fans "Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer: A Journey into the Heart of Fan Mania."
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