色情视频

Bryan Ransom had seen the title before. As 色情视频鈥檚 director of athletic bands, he had come across the chart for 鈥淢ontezuma Majesty鈥� in the music department鈥檚 files (click to listen).

鈥淏ut it was hand written,鈥� Ransom said, 鈥渁nd just looking at it without fully examining it or having somebody play it, I didn鈥檛 know what it was.鈥� Until earlier this summer when he made a surprising discovery.

鈥淚 was just poking around in the library and found it along with two vinyl recordings and I took it home,鈥� he remembered. 鈥淭his was the first recording I had discovered of it and I loved it the first time I played it.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so indicative of a college fight song. I love our fight song because it is fight-song sounding, but it鈥檚 so different sounding than any other college fight song and 鈥楳ontezuma Majesty鈥� is really typical of the traditional college fight song sound. It鈥檚 different enough that it鈥檚 not of the same mold as ours, but it has characteristics of ours and it has a little quotation of the alma mater鈥斺�楬ail Montezuma鈥欌�攁t the end, which is really the thing that pulled me into it.鈥�

Revived musical tradition

Ransom came across 鈥淢ontezuma Majesty鈥� barely a week after a conversation with Aztecs quarterbacks coach and 色情视频 alumnus Brian Sipe, who has been instrumental in reintroducing school traditions to boost the football program.

鈥淗e had been talking to me about what I could do to help him in his vision of reviving and creating some traditions,鈥� Ransom said. 鈥淚 thought of him immediately when I heard 鈥楳ontezuma Majesty鈥� and said, 鈥業鈥檝e got to get this rearranged and into the books this year.鈥欌��

Ransom turned to Facebook to track down the song鈥檚 composer to request permission to rearrange the music.  Almost immediately, he located Ted Lucas, a former professor and college administrator now retired and living in Ventura County.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even know in the first place that they had retained it,鈥� Lucas said of the song he remembered writing in 1961 as a 19-year-old undergraduate music major. 鈥淚 was surprised Bryan liked it and surprised he wanted to do a revival of music that hadn鈥檛 been done in a while.鈥�

'The tune in my head'

Lucas grew up in a musical family in El Cajon. At San Diego State, his instrument of choice was the violin, which he played in the symphony orchestra. He also played the piano and several brass instruments, including the French horn and baritone, in the concert bands.

鈥淚 was very active in the music program,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚 played sousaphone in the Aztec Marching Band, so I marched in many football games at Aztec Stadium. Marching band was one of the highlights of my years at San Diego State. I enjoyed it very, very much.鈥�

Lucas said it was his experience with the band that provided the inspiration for 鈥淢ontezuma Majesty.鈥�

鈥淭he reason I wrote it, as I recall, is that I noticed there were few singing fight songs back in the 鈥�50s and early 鈥�60s at San Diego State,鈥� he explained, 鈥渟o it just occurred to me that 色情视频 could use one more fight song for their football games.鈥�

At the time, Lucas had a piano that came with a house he was renting near campus.

鈥淲ith 鈥楳ontezuma Majesty,鈥� I heard the tune and chords in my head, so I sat down at the piano and cranked it out,鈥� he remembered. 鈥淚t probably took two hours to come up with the tune from beginning to end and to add chords. Then, of course, it took several days to do a complete piano score and the band score.

鈥淪o I wrote that for the band and I don鈥檛 know where that title came from鈥攊t just occurred to me. I never did get around to writing lyrics for it. I wrote it and gave it to the band director and he played it and he liked it. I know it was played at several football games as a kind of spirit fight song.鈥�

In fact, 鈥淢ontezuma Majesty鈥� was so well received it became the band鈥檚 primary tune. Jerry Zullo, an 色情视频 alumnus who has served as 色情视频鈥檚 band announcer for more than four decades, remembers a time when it replaced 鈥淔ight On鈥� as San Diego State鈥檚 fight song.

鈥淚 think the band director at the time was Charles D. Yates,鈥� Zullo recalled. 鈥淥ne year鈥擨 think it was in the early '70s鈥攈e said, 鈥楾he fight song has just been played over and over and I want to replace it with 鈥楳ontezuma Majesty,鈥� so he did.

鈥淲e just didn鈥檛 play the fight song anymore and instead, after all the touchdowns and field goals and everything, they played 鈥楳ontezuma Majesty.鈥� I don鈥檛 know whether he got any complaints about it, but for the whole season they used 鈥楳ontezuma Majesty鈥� as the fight song. Then, the next year, we went back to 鈥楩ight On.鈥欌��

Zullo says it wasn鈥檛 long before 鈥淢ontezuma Majesty鈥� and other unique Aztec tunes like 鈥淪ons of Quetzalcoatl鈥� disappeared from the band鈥檚 playlist.

鈥淭hey just kind of died sometime in the 鈥�70s and no one played them anymore,鈥� Zullo lamented. 鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled that 鈥楳ontezuma Majesty鈥� came back because it鈥檚 a nice tune and it鈥檚 got that little riff from the alma mater in it.鈥�

Updated arrangement

As current band director, Ransom had mentioned it was that echo of the alma mater that hooked him, too. Once he realized what the music department file had contained for almost half a century, he was also excited about the original composition Lucas had written by hand.

鈥淗e drew a little picture of a teepee and some stuff on the front,鈥� Ransom said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really classic.鈥�

As he updated the arrangement for 鈥淢ontezuma Majesty,鈥� Ransom hoped to retain the original鈥檚 spirit while enhancing the appeal for current members of the Marching Aztecs.

鈥淚 kept the integrity of the tune using about 80 percent of what was on there,鈥� Ransom said of his new arrangement. 鈥淚 added a little bit of ornamentation and some articulation that was not in the original, but pretty much it鈥檚 straight off the page. I added an updated drum part because, basically, back when Ted wrote this the drum parts were rudimentary, so I added a little bit to the drum parts to make it more time-appropriate for us.鈥�

The band鈥檚 reaction?

鈥淭hey love it,鈥� Ransom insisted. 鈥淭hat was my biggest concern because I had already hyped it to a bunch of people that we were going to be doing this before I had even played it once with the band. We read it down in camp and everybody put it down and went, 鈥榊eah!鈥� and clapped their hands and I thought, 鈥極k, great. This is good.鈥欌��  

For the first time in decades, the band played 鈥淢ontezuma Majesty鈥� for the football team鈥檚 Sept. 4 season opener at Qualcomm Stadium. The song seemed to strike a familiar chord with many alumni and fans who clapped along with the music and instinctively shouted, 鈥淪-D-S-U, 色情视频 Aztecs fight!鈥� at the end. The once-popular march has been played at every home football game since.

Honored as 色情视频鈥檚 1994 Music Alumnus of the Year, Lucas said he still communicates regularly with several of his former music professors. He still plays the violin and piano regularly, 鈥渂ut I haven鈥檛 played brass since I graduated from San Diego State,鈥� he admitted.

As for the song he composed almost 50 years ago that has reclaimed its place among Aztec traditions, Lucas said he welcomes any ideas for improvements.  

鈥淚f somebody wants to write lyrics to it or even change the name, that鈥檚 fine with me,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think it would be fun to hear somebody sing it.鈥�

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