Tipsy Lyrics Still Pep Up Aggies

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Could the New Mexico State University fight song be the most politically incorrect in the country?

Some alumni say so and are lobbying for a change. But the last time that was tried, the alternative was booed off the field.

New Mexico State’s alumni magazine is questioning the song’s boozy references.

The song includes this line: “And when we win this game, we’ll buy a keg of booze and drink it to the Aggies ‘til we wobble in our shoes.”

There is a perception that the song promotes excessive drinking, the magazine said.

So the magazine is posing the question: Do alumni want at least a portion of the lyrics changed?

“The last few years, we’ve had some alumni say that New Mexico is one of the worst states in the nation for driving while intoxicated,” said Debbie Widger, alumni relations director at New Mexico State. “Earlier this year, we attended an alumni function in Denver, where once again the topic was raised.

“So based on that, the question is, ‘OK, do we want to change it or not?’ We’re taking the question to alumni and if they want us to change it, we’ll change it.”

Widger said research would be needed to determine when the song was written; “we’ve been told by some alumni that they remembered singing the song in the late 1930s.”

There apparently were attempts to change the song in the early 1950s, Widger said.

“We’ve had some alumni tell us a newer version was offered at a football game, but fans roundly booed that song,” she said.

Widger said there’s been “pretty strong opposition” to changing the song from some younger alumni.

“What threw me is that when they were asked if they knew the words to the fight song, they knew every single word of it,” she said.

The alumni association has not set a deadline to respond about the fight song because alumni newsletters are still going out, “but at this point, I would guess that we would have some kind of answer by mid-April,” Widger said.