Roll Tide (or Roll Tide Roll) is the rallying cry for the Alabama Crimson Tide athletic teams. [1] [2] The trademark to the phrase is claimed by the University of Alabama, with licensing and marketing by The Collegiate Licensing Company. [3] [4]
History
The origins of 'Roll Tide' are unclear. From 1892 to 1906, commentators popularized the 'Thin Red Line' nickname for the university team, later replaced by 'Crimson Tide'. [5] The university fight song originally contained the line "Roll to vic-try", later replaced with the phrase roll tide. [5]
Dr. Dorothy Worden-Chambers attributes 'roll tide' as a "cultural keyword... emblematic of the culture of the [University of Alabama]." [5]
In popular culture
Music
- "Roll Tide" is the name of a dramatic piece of orchestral music that was composed by Hans Zimmer for the 1995 Hollywood Pictures film Crimson Tide. Most of the film is set aboard the USS Alabama, an Ohio-class nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine.
- "Roll Tide" is the name of a song by the California based American folk-rock band Dawes on their studio album We're All Gonna Die, released in September 2016. The song is a melancholy lamentation about love, forgiveness, and reconciliation; it alludes to the Alabama Crimson Tide rallying cry and to the state of Alabama itself, but it also draws upon a more literal, water-based metaphor relating to the word "tide". [6] [7]
References
- ^ Davis, Terry (1999). Roll Tide: The Alabama Crimson Tide Story. Creative Education. p. 3. ISBN 0-88682-975-5.
- ^ Moran, Malcolm (January 2, 1993). "Roll Tide! Alabama Dethrones No. 1 Miami". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
- ^ Faulk, Kent (November 17, 2013). "'Rammer Jammer,' 'Roll Tide' and 41 other things that University of Alabama can sue you over". AL.com. Advance Publications. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
- ^ "Licensing". The Official Home of The University of Alabama Athletics: Crimson Tide (www.rolltide.com). The University of Alabama. Archived from the original on May 4, 2014. Retrieved May 17, 2014.
- ^ a b c Testino, Laura (September 15, 2016). "Can I get a roll tide: The history of the popular phrase". The Crimson White. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
- ^ "Roll Tide Lyrics". Archived from the original on 2017-03-23. Retrieved 2017-03-22.
- ^ Flanagan, Ben (2016-09-23). "Listen to Los Angeles folk rock band Dawes' sweet new Alabama-inspired song 'Roll Tide'". Archived from the original on 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2017-03-22.