"Mighty Oregon" is the fight song

Fight song

A fight song is primarily an American and Canadian sports term, referring to 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...

 for the University of Oregon

University of Oregon

-Colleges and schools:The University of Oregon is organized into eight schools and colleges—six professional schools and colleges, an Arts and Sciences College and an Honors College.- School of Architecture and Allied Arts :...

. It is played by the Oregon Marching Band

Oregon Marching Band

The Oregon Marching Band is the marching band of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, United States. With nearly 240 members, it is the largest student organization on campus, and its members come from nearly every department and major at the university...

 at home

Oregon Ducks

The Oregon Ducks refers to the sports teams of the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon. The Oregon Ducks are part of the Pacific-12 Conference in the Division 1 of the NCAA. With seventeen varsity teams, the Oregon Ducks are best known for their football team and Track and Field...

 football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 and basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

 games. Director of Bands, Albert Perfect, along with journalism student, DeWitt Gilbert, wrote the fight song, "The Mighty Oregon March", which was first performed on March 4, 1916. For the song's most popular section, Perfect fashioned a new melody to fit into the harmony from It's a Long Way to Tipperary, a hit 1912 World War I march. The catchy popularity of the harmony was not lost on Perfect, a well-educated in music theory, who originally subtitled the song "The Tipperary of the West." Over the years there have been several changes to the lyrics and, today, the middle stanza

Stanza

In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...

 is generally the only one sung and it is done so using more modern lyrics than the original.

The song was first performed on January 7, 1916 at the Eugene Municipal Band's inaugural performance and is today played during all home football and basketball games as well as from speakers atop the Erb Memorial Union (the school's student union

Student activity center

A student activity center is a type of building found on university campuses. In the United States, such a building is more often called a student union, student commons, or student center...

) weekdays at noon and 6 p.m. In addition, it is played from atop the EMU on Commencement Day.