Tiger Rag The Mills Brothers, Joe Jackson

Hold that tiger
Hold that tiger
Hold that tiger
Hold that tiger
Hold that tiger
Hold that tiger
Hold that tiger

Where's that tiger?
Where's that tiger?
Where's that tiger?
Where's that tiger?
Where's that tiger?
Where's that tiger?
Where's that tiger?






Written by Harry DaCosta, Edwin B. Edwards, D. James LaRocca, Anthony Sbarbaro, Larry Shields

By By Deb Richardson-Moore
STAFF WRITER
dmoore@greenvillenews.com

Lyrics-wise, it's the simplest of songs: "Hold that ti-ger! Hold that ti-ger! Hold that ti-ger! Hold tha .... "
OK, you get the picture, in surround-sound: 80,000 orange-clad fans screaming fondly for their feline, then spelling out C-L-E-M-S-O-N.

But now, it seems, there's a touch of Americana in their madness: The Library of Congress has named "Tiger Rag" among its first 50 selections to the National Recording Registry.

The 1918 "Tiger Rag" recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band wasn't adopted as the Clemson University fight song until 1942, so it wasn't the Clemson association that got the song picked.

Rather, according to the registry Web site, it was because the Original Dixieland — based in Chicago, yet — was the first jazz group to make a commercial record.

But don't try to make that point above the roar.

"It's basically the center of Clemson spirit," said the university's director of bands, Dr. Mark Spede. "As far as music goes, it's the all-important Clemson pep tune."

On the National Registry, the song is in interesting company. Entries weren't intended to be a "best of" list, said congressional librarian James Billington, but a celebration of "the richness and variety of our audio legacy."

That explains a trio of cylinders by Thomas Edison (1888-1889); "Stars and Stripes Forever" (1897); the Fireside Chats of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945), and "Freewheelin' " by Bob Dylan (1963).

And then there are the golden oldies: Elvis Presley's Sun Record sessions (1954-1955); Frank Sinatra's "Songs for Young Lovers" (1955); Ray Charles' "What'd I Say," and Aretha Franklin's "Respect" (1967).

But in this part of the Southland, even the King would be hard pressed to shake a stadium like the Marching Tigers in full trumpet.

The rag, said Spede, actually has lyrics beyond "Hold that tiger!"

It's just that nobody knows them. Not that it matters.

"At the tempo we play the song," he explained, "you can't fit the words in."

Alumni from quieter schools may want to get on the ... er ... horn. The National Recording Registry is accepting nominations for future selections.