Drum Major with tiger: Office of Public Relations Records, RG #A0020,
Louisiana State University Archives, LSU Libraries, Baton Rouge, LA.
Bud Johnson: I really enjoyed working for [Athletic Director] Jim Corbett because he was intellectually stimulating, you know. “Hey, Fighting Tigers!” the fight song, do you know that story?
Emily Nemens: No.
Johnson: Okay. He goes to New York on TV business. See, he was on the NCAA Television Committee, a very important role in those days. There was a play on Broadway called Wildcat. Lucille Ball had the lead role. There was a very lively tune called, “Hey! Look Me Over.” To Jim Corbett, that sounded like a college fight song. He turned “Hey! Look Me Over” into “Hey, Fighting Tigers” for [Coach Charles] McClendon’s first game in Tiger Stadium. Got somebody on campus to write the words, got permission from the people to use it.
Tom Tyra, the band director . . . I was in this staff meeting and Tom Tyra said, “It’ll always be known as, ‘Hey! Look Me Over.’” Now, you find me somebody in Tiger Stadium today that knows that that was, “Hey! Look Me Over.” That’s not your normal athletic director that didn’t have any journalism background, that didn’t have any creativity about him. You know, they were an old baseball coach or an old football coach and you didn’t have . . . you know. If you saw an offense you liked you copied it, you know. You didn’t have to be creative.
-- Bud Johnson, interviewed by Emily Nemens, 2013