NU Historic Yells
and Cheers Page
Posted
7/30/06

 




NU Football
Historic Yells and Cheers
The following are a few of the many organized yells and cheers that Northwestern fans and cheerleaders used throughout the history of the team.  The earliest organized fan cheer dates to at least 1890.
The original yell, 1890:

Razzle, Dazzle,
Zip Boom Bah,
We are the people,
Rah, Rah, Rah!
The "Varsity" was the true traditional Northwestern yell.  NU students unveiled the cheer on October 21, 1893 at Sheppard Field, during the game against Illinois. NU used the yell through the mid 1930s:

Rah, Rah, Rah, Rah,
U Northwestern!
Rah, Rah, Rah, Rah, Rah!
"Locomotive" was a classic.  It began before 1915 and continued into the 1950s.  By the 1920s the Tiger was replaced by Yeh:
Rah--Rah--Rah--Rah
U--North-wes-tern
Rah--Rah--Rah--Rah
U--North-wes-tern
Rah--Rah--Rah--Rah
U--North-wes-tern
Tiger!
By 1948 the "Rahs" in "Locomotive" had mutated to the following:
U--Rah--Rah--Rah
U--North-wes-tern
U--Rah--Rah--Rah
U--North-wes-tern
U--Rah--Rah--Rah
U--North-wes-tern
Yeah, Team!
The "Siren" began sometime in the late 1910s and appeared through the early 1930s:
R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-- Rah, Northwestern, Rah!
R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-- Rah, Northwestern, Rah!
R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-- Rah, Northwestern, Rah!
(tiger)
"Seven Rahs" was performed from the 1910s through the mid 1930s. Note another use of "tiger!"-- preparing for the Wildcat nickname? By the mid-'20s, the Tiger! had been replaced by "Yeh!"

North-western,
North-western,
Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah Rah
North-western,
Tiger!
"Sky Rocket" was used in the mid 1920s:
(clap hands)
(stomp feet)
(long whistle)
U-m-m-m-m-m (rising to feet)
Aa-------h-h
Northwestern
Rah!
...which evolved, by the late 1930s, into:
(clap hands)
S - S - S - S
Boom!
Ah - h-h (rising to feet)
Northwestern!
Rah!
...and by the 1950s, into this:
Go -- U
N -- Uuuuuuuuuuu (rising pitch)
Boom!  Fight!
Go -- U
N -- Uuuuuuuuuuu (rising pitch)
Boom!  Fight!
Go -- U, N -- U,
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Another yell from the early to mid 1920s was "Yeh-Bo-Team," which was shouted into the 1940s:
Ye--h Bo Team
Team!  Team!  Team!
"Wildcat" appeared first in 1925, just one year after NU received its nickname.  Fans kept shouting it into the 1940s:
S-S-S-S-S
Y-e-o-w!!
WILDCATS!!!
Still another from the early 1920s is "Yeh! Northwestern":
Ye--h Northwestern
Ye--h Northwestern
Ye--h Northwestern
--Yeh--
It's not clear when "Fight Yell" was first used, but it likely also started in the mid 1920s:
Yeh!  Team
Fight Fight Fight Fight
Fight Fight Fight
Northwestern
Fight!
...by 1939, this yell had evolved into "Yeah! Team! Fight!":
Yeah Team!
Yeah Team!
Northwestern!
Fight!  Fight!  Fight!
"Let's Go, N.U." began in the late 1930s:
Let's Go N.U.
Beat - - - - - (name of opponent)
...as did a variation called "Northwestern--Let's Go":
U. . . North. . . wes. . . tern
T. . . E. . . A. . . M
Northwestern!
Let's Go!
"Hello" first appeared around the same time as "Let's Go, N.U.":
Hello, - - - - -
Hello, - - - - -
- - - - -,   - - - - -
Hello!!!
The cheer we all know today-- the only cheer we all know today, "Go U -- N.U.," began in the mid 1940s.  Unlike today's version, the original had two lines:
Go U -- N.U.
Fight, fight, fight!
"Chant" began in the late 1940s:
Northwestern,
Northwestern,
Northwestern,
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Another cheer from the '40s is "Bugle Yell":
(Bugle) -- Fight, team, fight!
(Bugle) -- Fight, team, fight!
(Bugle) -- Go U -- N.U.
(Bugle) -- Fight!
"Wildcat Yell" began in the early 1950s:
W -- I -- L -- D
(clap your hands four times)
C -- A -- T -- S
(clap your hands four times)
(repeat the above three times,
progressively faster)
Yea!  Wildcats!
Another '50s yell was "Purple - White":
(two units alternate)
Unit 1            Unit 2
Go, Purple!          Go, White!
Go, Purple!          Go, White!
Go, Purple!          Go, White!
PURPLE!          WHITE!
(together) FIGHT!
By the 1960s, "Victory" was a favorite NU cheer:
V I C T O R Y
V I C T O R Y
V I C T O R Y
Wildcat Victory!
...as was "Give Me a C":
Cheerleaders            Crowd
Give me a C!            C!
Give me an A!            A!
Give me a T!            T!
Give me an S!           S!
What's it Spell?          CATS!
Louder!                CATS!
Louder!                CATS!
Also first appearing in the '60s was a collection of chants:
Go Cats Go
C A T S Go Cats
GO!
Go You N.U.
Hit'em Again, Harder, Harder
Let's Go North (South)
Get That Ball!
Block That Kick
Touchdown, Touchdown, Touchdown
By the end of the 1960s organized fan cheering at NU began to fade out, and by the early 1970s the NU yells were no longer being included in game programs.  They were informally replaced in the late '70s with derisive fans cheers such as "That's alright, that's OK-- You will work for us someday!"  A couple of traditional cheers, of course, remained, such as "Go U! -- NU!" and "Go, 'Cats, Go!"  But it wasn't the same as the heyday of NU yells. 

NUMB, however, kept the tradition going during the 1970s and '80s with some truly classic cheers, including these three gems, later reprinted in Northwestern Magazine:

Northwestern them!
Northwestern them!
Make them pay heavily every quarter!
AAAAAHHHHH!!!


Advance! Advance!
Ambulate over the turf!
AAAAAHHHHH!!!


Two-four-six-eight
Time to differentiate! d to the x, dx/dy
d to the y/dy
Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine
Cosine, tangent, inverse sine
Add an asymptotic line
Come on Wildcats, hold that line...segment!
AAAAAHHHHH!!!!