First sung at an Idaho football game in 1931, "Go Vandals, Go" was adopted as Idaho's only fight song. It was composed by J.M. "Morey" O'Donnell, a longtime Moscow attorney when he was a freshman at the University. A native of Granite, Idaho (north of Coeur d'Alene), Morey was a child prodigy who began playing the piano at age six, was in an orchestra by 13, and was traveling the world with a dance orchestra by the time he entered the University in 1930.
At that time, Idaho's fight song was "On Idaho" which was sung to the tune of "On Wisconsin." The ASUI sponsored an annual songfest competition among the classes, and one of its purposes was to find a new fight song. "Go Vandals, Go" won the competition in 1930 and immediately became the Vandals' only mantra. It was copyrighted by the University in 1931.
The chorus was written as whole notes and half notes so that it could be easily sung by a large crowd. Many school songs are difficult to sing because of the fast beat used to make them spirited. "Go Vandals" instead relies on a heavy drum beat and the nature of the words to carry the spirit. As a result, it is continually cited as one of the top college fight songs in America.
Provost Torrey Lawrence once said, "It is original. In fact, it was written for our university by one of you – by a student! Like our unique mascot (we are the only Vandals in the country), our fight song is one-of-a-kind."
Original source can be found here.
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