Aggie War Hymn The Aggie War Hymn is the war hymn of Texas A & M University ; officially , the school does not have a fight song . History . It was written by J . V . " Pinky " Wilson , one of many Aggies who fought in World War I . Wilson combined several Aggie yells then in use at the time into a song called " Good - bye to Texas University . " It was sung frequently by a quartet Wilson organized after returning to Texas A & M after the war . One night in 1920 , several of the Aggie Yell Leaders heard Wilson ' s quartet singing the song , and asked him to let them submit it in a contest for a new fight song to be held that fall ( after Wilson graduated ) . Wilson agreed , and the song , considerably jazzed up , was officially adopted that fall under its current title . The song is noted for beginning with " Recall , " an old bugle call , in two different keys . These are the keys of the bugles in use by the US Army during WWI , the M1894 Field Trumpet in B - flat ( aka , the " Trench Bugle " ) and the M1896 Field Trumpet in G , which is the " bugle " still in use today . This is a nod to Texas A & M ' s past as a military school . Indeed , for many years , the Fightin ' Texas Aggie Band ' s halftime show has begun with the drum major shouting " Recall ! Step off on ' Hullabaloo ! ' " The starting phrase of the song , " Hullabaloo , Caneck ! Caneck ! " was widely thought to originate from an Old Army Aggie yell written in 1907 , though other uses of the phrase have been recorded as early as 1889 at Johns Hopkins University . Texas A & M University president Jack K . Williams jokingly defined it as Chickasaw Indian for " Beat the hell out of the University of Texas " The original song is actually the second verse of the hymn ; in 1928 , Wilson wrote another verse at the request of several Aggie students who thought the original was too focused on the Aggies ' rivalry with the University of Texas . The additional lyrics comprise what is now the first verse of the song . However , the first verse has never caught on , in part because many felt it sounded too much like an Ivy League song . Thus , in practice , the second ( original ) verse is usually sung twice . The second verse opens with " Goodbye to texas university " ; these words were chosen since Aggies refer to their principal athletic rival , the University of Texas , as " texas university " , or " t . u . " . Also , in practice , the phrase " sounds like hell " is inserted after the line " that is the song they sing so well " ; however , the phrase is not officially part of the song . After the second verse , Aggie fans link their arms and legs , and sway left and right to replicate the motion of a saw blade ; this is called " sawing Varsity ' s horns off " ( prior to the Texas football team adopting the Longhorn as the official mascot , the team was simply known as " Varsity " ) . When this happens during football games at Kyle Field , this causes the entire west upper deck , including the press box , to sway . This often unnerves sportswriters who haven ' t covered an Aggie game before . In 1997 , the song was rated as the No . 1 college fight song by " USA Today " . It was also used by NASA Flight Director Gerry Griffin to wake up astronauts in space from 1983 to 1995 . The song was also used as a wakeup call on Day 11 of space mission STS - 121 for Texas A & M former student and mission specialist Mike Fossum .