Fight song

In American and Canadian sports, a fight song is a song associated with a team. In both professional and amateur sports, fight songs are a popular way for fans to cheer for their team. Although the term "fight song" is primarily used in America, the use of fight songs is commonplace around the world, but they may be referred to as team anthems, team songs or games songs in other countries, such as Australia, Mexico and New Zealand. Fight songs differ from stadium anthems, used for similar purposes, in that they are usually written specifically for the purposes of the team, whereas stadium anthems are not.

Hundreds of colleges have fight songs, some of which are over a century old. The oldest collegiate fight song in the United States is Boston College's "For Boston", composed by T.J. Hurley in 1885.

One of the oldest games songs in Australia is Melbourne Grammar's 'Play Together, Dark Blue Twenty', which is sung to the tune of ‘The March of the Men of Harlech’. It was composed by Ambrose John Wilson who was principal of the school from 1885-1893. This is not to be confused with the school hymn 'Ora et Labora' which is now sung to the tune of 'Jerusalem'.

Fight (song)

"Fight" was the Moldovan entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, performed in English by Natalia Barbu. The song was written by Elena Buga and composed by Alexandru Braşoveanu.

The song is a metal-based number, comparable to Within Temptation or Evanescence in sound. Barbu sings about the need to "fight" in order "to face this cruel world", and sings that this is in fact the only way to get ahead. The melody line is provided by a violin, which Barbu herself plays in the video, as well as playing in the live performances. Barbu laughingly said that even though she couldn't play live at Eurovision (the rules forbid this), the background track violin is played by her and that it was actually a very easy part since she has been playing since she was seven years old.

The video features a number of schoolboys racing each other over what appears to be an unmarked cross-country course. Over the course of the song, all of the boys with one exception fall over, leaving one as the only victor.

Rachel Platten

Rachel Ashley Platten (born May 20, 1981) is an American singer and songwriter. Her third studio album and major-label debut, Wildfire, reached number five in the United States and received generally mixed reviews. The album spawned singles "Fight Song" and "Stand by You". "Fight Song" peaked at number six on Billboard Hot 100 and topped the UK Singles Chart. "Stand By You" so far peaked at number thirty-seven on Billboard Hot 100 becoming her second Top 40 hit.

Early life

Rachel Ashley Platten was born on May 20, 1981 to Jewish parents Paul and Pamela Platten (née Jabush). She was born in New York City but grew up in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. She studied classical piano from the age of 5 and then took up guitar in high school. She attended Buckingham Browne and Nichols for high school, where she sang in the school's singing group. At Trinity College, she was a member of the Trinitones, the college's all-female a cappella group. As a part of a study abroad program, she went to Trinidad to do an internship at a diplomat's office and at a record label. While she was there, she sang back up for a friend's band in front of over 80,000 people at the International Soca Monarch finals in 2002. Platten graduated from Trinity College with a degree in international relations in 2003. According to Platten, from that moment on she knew she had to pursue music full-time. She then moved to New York City's Greenwich Village where she cut her teeth playing with a Prince and Sly and the Family Stone cover band called Dayz of Wild. In 2012, it was reported that she married Kevin Lazan in a Jewish ceremony. She performed her solo music around the Village and eventually began touring the country. She has worked with numerous charities, Musicians on Call (where she sings bedside to hospital patients) and she is an ambassador for Music Unites. She also works with the Ryan Seacrest Foundation and was an ambassador for Below the Line (a call to end world poverty).