Boomer Sooner

"Boomer Sooner"
Song by The Pride of Oklahoma
Released1905
GenreFight song
Songwriter(s)Arthur M. Alden

"Boomer Sooner" is the fight song for the University of Oklahoma (OU). The lyrics were written in 1905 by Arthur M. Alden, an OU student and son of a local jeweler in Norman. The tune is taken from "Boola Boola", the fight song of Yale University (which was itself borrowed from an 1898 song called "La Hoola Boola" by Robert Allen (Bob) Cole and Billy Johnson).[1] A year later, an additional section was appended, borrowed from the University of North Carolina's "I'm a Tar Heel Born".[2][3][4]

  1. ^ Diane Scarponi, "'Boola Boola': Yale's fight song marks 100th anniversary", Associated Press in South Coast Today, November 19, 2000.
  2. ^ Jake Trotter, I Love Oklahoma/I Hate Texas (Triumph Books, 2012), ISBN 978-1623680411. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  3. ^ David W. Levy, The University of Oklahoma: A History (University of Oklahoma Press, 2005), ISBN 978-0806137032, p. 143. Excerpts available at Google Books.
  4. ^ "Fight Songs". SooonerSports.com. Archived from the original on 2009-08-23. Retrieved 2009-08-19.