The Sweetest Song
Rocky Top will always be a Tennessee Volunteer’s favorite tune. Here are more unusual places you’ve heard it. Send your Rocky Top moments to torch@tennessee.edu.
I was in Beijing, China, last year on the Great Wall. I was wearing my worn UT hat, and my girlfriend was wearing her orange Tennessee shirt. We were in one of the towers when some other American tourists walked by. They said "Go Vols!" and sang the chorus to "Rocky Top." I was caught off guard, but later joined in. It was great to see Vol fans on the other side of the world.
Randy Burts ’06, Knoxville
I was in Las Vegas in April having dinner with some clients. One is an LSU fan and the other is a Florida fan. We were eating at a Texas-style barbecue joint and I was bragging how Tennessee barbecue is the best in the world. Of course they both had their opinions. Smack dab in the middle of our “discussion,” I heard the most glorious sound in the world. It was Rocky Top being played over the house speakers! That immediately settled the discussion of which state had the best barbecue! Go Vols!
Dan Lyle ’91, communications
Several years ago my husband and I were vacationing in Honolulu. He had always wanted to see Don Ho, so we attended a performance in the showroom of a Honolulu hotel. After a few numbers he introduced his band. He introduced the keyboard player by explaining he was "all the way from Tennessee,” at which point the keyboardist began playing Rocky Top. The whole band joined in and the crowd loved it!
Nancy Livingston ’76, ’78
I heard Rocky Top played by a mariachi band in a Smyrna, GA, Mexican restaurant. (It was requested.) My brother heard it played at a Pittsburgh Pirates game against the Atlanta Braves. There was no reason given!
Laura Burns ’89, Marietta, GA
Several years ago I was on a State Department sponsored trip to Australia with 11 other political office holders from around the country. Naturally, I often sang the praises of Tennessee; so much so that the folks from New York and California began to tire of me telling them how great it is to be a Tennessee Volunteer.
One afternoon, the Victoria Wine Growers Association hosted a lunch for us in Melbourne. After a couple of hours of sampling some of Australia's best wines, we boarded a plane and flew to Hobart, Tasmania--only a few hundred miles from Antarctica. On the plane one of the guys said, "Well, at least we didn't have to listen to how great Tennessee wine is."
By the time we reached our hotel, most of us headed to the steam room to sweat the wine out of our travel-weary bodies. In the steam room we met a local singer who was working at the hotel lounge as the nightly entertainer. When he heard I was from Tennessee, he said, "Hey, that's great. You'll love my show; I start out the act singing, Rocky Top Tennessee and then change it to Rocky Top Tasmania."
He had lived in Nashville for a few years, had visited Neyland Stadium a couple of times, and loved Tennessee football. Needless to say I was a proud Vol Fan; although the New York and California guys just rolled their eyes and groaned.
Rocky Top, you'll always be home, sweet home to me.
Bill Owen ’72, Knoxville
My husband and I were on our honeymoon in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, in April 2008, when we went to a piano bar at our resort. We read through the list of songs to request and found that the Jamaican piano player knew Rocky Top. He was just as excited to play it for us as we were to sing along!
Tim Lewin '06, Economics
Lauren Mobley Lewin '03, Family Studies
I heard it in Busch Stadium in St. Louis at a Cardinals game in August 1986.
R. O. Smith ’66 agriculture, ’69 law
My wife and I were on vacation in the Mediterranean on Holland America’s MS Noordam in the piano bar when the request for Rocky Top was made. The “piano man” did a great job. Turns out he is from Nashville. Yes, we were the ones who made the request.
Louis Wright ’72
