So today I decided to dig into this college fight song I keep hearing everywhere – “Let’s Go Irish!” Figured it must be Notre Dame’s thing, right? Wanted to know where it actually started and how it became such a big deal. Grabbed my laptop and just started googling like crazy, feeling like a detective.
First stop? Youtube, obviously. Searched for old Notre Dame football game footage, the really ancient stuff. Found this grainy black-and-white clip probably filmed on a potato, but you could faintly hear the band playing something familiar. Sounded kinda like the tune we know, but different? Weird. Scrubbed back and forth like ten times trying to catch it.
Got frustrated fast. Decided to switch tactics and hunt down actual song history. Typed “Notre Dame fight song history” into the search bar. Bingo. Found out the “Victory March” is like the granddaddy of “Let’s Go Irish.” This thing is ancient – written way back in 1908 by two Notre Dame grads, the Shea brothers. Okay, foundation found! But where did OUR part come from?
Deeper I went. Found forums, old university archives, even scanned yearbook pages online. Learned the tune itself stayed super popular over the decades, but the words kinda shifted around. The actual “Let’s Go Irish!” chant part? Seems it just organically grew right out of the student section during games. Fans started screaming those exact words right after the band played a specific section of the “Victory March.”
Felt like cracking a code! That catchy, rhythmic chant – “Let’s Go! Irissssh!” – wasn’t written into the original sheet music at all. It was pure fan invention, a live crowd spontaneously turning part of the band’s melody into their own battle cry. Imagine being at a game back then when that first caught on! Must have been electric.
Kept digging. Found references to it really cementing itself in the 1920s and 30s. The band, sharp as tacks, noticed the crowd consistently yelling those words at a particular musical moment. So what did they do? They leaned into it! They started emphasizing that part of the music when they played live, practically inviting the roar. Made the chant even louder, even stronger. It was a perfect loop: Band plays the phrase → Crowd erupts with “Let’s Go Irish!” → Band gets hyped and plays it louder next time.
Over years, decades really, it became inseparable from Notre Dame football. More than just a song part, it’s THE chant for the team. My big takeaways?
- The “Victory March” (1908) is the official song, the origin.
- The “Let’s Go Irish!” chant bloomed naturally from fans.
- The band and crowd basically created it together live at games.
- It turned into Notre Dame’s signature sound, way beyond the sheet music.
So, yeah. Spent the afternoon chasing this tune through history. It’s wild how something so simple shouted by excited students way back when became such an iconic piece of college football culture. Not invented in a studio, but born right there in the stands. Makes hearing it now feel kinda special.
