Traditions are an interesting part of college football culture. Some are born of a serious need to remember a time that has passed on. Others are formed specifically for the purpose of becoming traditions, like the singing of the alma mater.
But there are some — probably a majority — that happen organically, taking shape on their own simply because they catch on. That’s how the tradition of Georgia Tech’s band playing the “You’ve said it all” jingle from the 1970s Budweiser commercial turned into one of the most fun and beloved traditions at the Institute, which already has a wealth of older, more prestigious traditions.
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Many origin stories exist about how the Budweiser song and subsequent bobbing of bodies to the beat came to be. There’s the one about how the tradition took shape when Bud Carson was the head coach of the Yellow Jackets because his name easily could be switched out for “Budweiser” in the jingle. There’s another story about how the band needed to play a new song between the third and fourth quarters, and Budweiser, the company, heard about it and paid band members in beer and new instruments to play the jingle.
As with any story from a different era, the origins get a little convoluted as the tale is passed down through generations of college students. But there is a bit of truth in almost every story; you just have to pick your way through everything else to find it.
The tradition of playing Budweiser (as it is called by Georgia Tech fans) did begin during Carson’s tenure as head coach, but he wasn’t the main reason it started. The band did need to play a new song between the third and fourth quarters, but Budweiser didn’t pay the band in beer to play the song from its ad campaign. Current athletic band director Chris Moore said he definitely has heard that tale before, but he joked that he can’t prove it happened.
No one will go on the record saying that, yes, the band members were paid in beer from a local Budweiser representative.
“Even alumni from those days — if it was true — they won’t tell me,” Moore said with a laugh.
So, there are sprinklings of truth scattered throughout the stories passed on to incoming freshmen who are just learning about the tradition at orientation, but the actual origins of the playing of Budweiser at Georgia Tech games go a little something like this:
In 1970, everyone knew about Budweiser’s ad campaign with the “You’ve said it all” jingle. It was a popular commercial, so the band included it in the halftime performance set that year. It was such a hit with fans that the band decided to bring it back for the 1971 spring game. During that rendition of the commercial jingle, a person dressed up as BudMan, Budweiser’s superhero mascot, conducted the band.
During that time, Moore said the band also was playing a piece called “Southern Special” during the break between the third and fourth quarters. The theme for “Dixie” was included in that piece. By the 1970s, legendary and longtime head coach Bobby Dodd had hung up his coaching hat and was the athletic director at Georgia Tech. It was Dodd who asked for the band to no longer play the “Southern Special” piece, removing “Dixie” from the lineup of songs because of its racial and social connotation.
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When Dodd asked the band to replace that piece, the jingle took its place and the Budweiser tradition was born.
The song is still played during the same slot it was intended to fill almost 50 years ago: between the third and fourth quarters at home games. For away games, Moore said the band tries to be respectful of the host team’s own traditions. Bands have something they play before the start of the fourth quarter, so if Georgia Tech is the visiting team, the band will wait and play Budweiser during a timeout around that break. For men’s basketball, it’s played during the under-8 timeout in the second half. For women’s basketball, it’s between the third and fourth quarters, as in football.
There’s no rhyme or reason to why this short song from a commercial in 1970 caught on with a fan base in Atlanta. But if you take a look at the song through a strictly musical lens, it makes sense why it did.
“It kind of sounds like a polka,” Moore said. “It has that bobbing effect already.”
The up-and-down rhythm lends itself to dancing and movement. So it would make sense that the song caught on and evolved into the bobbing up and down of band members and fans every time it is played.
“I think that’s been a part of the charm of it, the attraction to it,” Moore said.
At Georgia Tech, the tradition of playing Budweiser and bobbing up and down to the song isn’t steeped in reverence or much history. At its core, it’s just fun.
Sometimes, that’s all a tradition needs to be.
“It’s the feel of the stadium,” Moore said. “It doesn’t matter what has happened in the previous three quarters of a football game. When we get to that break, everybody stands up and does it. It’s a vibe, a communal thing.”
(Photo: Austin McAfee / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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