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The official University of Tennessee fight song is not "Rocky Top" but "Down To The Field."
This comes as a surprise to just about everybody, because it is "Rocky Top" that is always played, and sung by fans, at practically all Vols and Lady Vols sporting events.
The song was first written and recorded in 1967. Five years later, in 1972, the "Pride of the Southland" University of Tennessee marching band used it for one of their drills. And they've been playing it ever since!
Written by married song-writers Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, "Rocky Top" references one of the three peaks of Thunderhead, in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains. The Bryants were working in Gatlinburg ("heart of the Smoky Mountains") on a collection of slow-tempo songs for musicians Archie Campbell and Chet Atkins, grew bored, and knocked off the lyrics to the fast-paced song in ten minutes.
"Rocky Top" was first recorded by The Osborne Brothers in 1967, and got into the "top 40s" on the country music charts in early 1968. The Osborne Brothers regularly included the song in their concerts, but it did not really take off until after the University of Tennessee played it during 1972. So wildly popular did it become that "Rocky Top" was officially adopted as a state song in 1982.
Listen to "Down the Field," "Fight Vols Fight," "Rocky Top" and "Alma Mater" at UT's Sports Tradition Page.
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Rocky Top
by Boudleax and Felice Bryant
Wish that I was on ol' Rocky Top
Down in the Tennessee hills
Aint' no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top
Ain't no telephone bills
Once I had a girl on Rocky Top
Half bear, other half cat
Wild as a mink,
but sweet as soda pop
I still dream about that.
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ol' Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee,
Rocky Top Tennessee
Once two strangers climbed ol' Rocky Top
Lookin' for a moonshine still
Strangers ain't come down from Rocky Top
Reckon they never will
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ol' Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee,
Rocky Top Tennessee
Corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top
Dirt's too rocky by far
That's why all the folks on Rocky Top
Get their corn from a jar
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ol' Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee,
Rocky Top Tennessee
I've had years of cramped-up city life
Trapped like a duck in a pen
All I know is it's a pity life
Can't be simple again
Rocky Top you'll always be
Home sweet home to me
Good ol' Rocky Top
Rocky Top Tennessee,
Rocky Top Tennessee
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