The song was the freshman class' winning entry in the university's annual song and stunt fest in May 1930,[4][8][9] and was soon played by the UI pep band at football games at MacLean Field. Previously, the Vandals had used a variation of "On, Wisconsin" as its fight song.[1]
Most fight songs are hard to sing because of the fast beat used to make them sound spirited. However, O'Donnell wrote the song almost entirely with whole notes and half notes to make it easy for a large football crowd to sing;[1] he also added a heavy drumbeat to carry the spirit.
For many years, it has been cited as one of the top fight songs in the United States. For example, 2002, Norm Maves, Jr. of The OregonianinPortland described it as "the once and future king of college fight songs, with a fanfare lead-in that could motivate a successful infantry charge."
Came a tribe from the North, brave and bold,
Bearing banners of Silver and Gold;
Tried and true to subdue all their foes
Go Vandals, go mighty Vandals!
Go, Vandals, go,
Fight on with hearts true and bold,
Foes will fall before your Silver and your Gold.
The victory cannot be withheld from thee,
So all bear down for Idaho,
Come on old Vandals, go!
Singer Bing Crosby, raised in Spokane, recorded an unrelated Idaho fight song in 1947;[11] "You're the Gem State Wonder, Idaho" was set to the melody of "Buckle Down, Winsocki" from the 1943musicalBest Foot Forward (and 1941 Broadwayplay).[12][13] A few months later, Crosby was an absentee judge for a campus beauty contest, documented in the UI yearbook.[14]