NASHVILLE - Rocky Top, you'll always be ... a real place.
All you South Carolina Gamecock and Alabama Crimson Tide and Florida Gator fans take note: Rocky Top actually exists.
It's found 5,441 feet up in the thin air of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the Appalachian Trail. And while it looms large in the imagination, the real place is quite small: a rocky outcropping about 25 yards long by 10 yards wide.
Rocky Top is the spot glorified in the catchy tune by that name that became a state song in 1982 and is the most rousing fight song at the University of Tennessee. In this state, the anthem is sacred.
This is no sneaky plot hatched by Lane Kiffin or Peyton Manning or Phillip Fulmer. No urban legend created by overzealous Tennessee fans. The tune sung and played endlessly at Volunteer athletic events, to the annoyance of opposing teams, has a notable namesake in the park.
For disbelieving football fans, here is some evidence.
First witness, author J. Greg Johnson, who has hiked to the spot:
"There is a flat spot there that is gravelly and ringed with rocks. The amazing thing is there are gorgeous views in all directions."
Next witness: Pamela Rodgers, back country information specialist for the park. She's been there, too.
"It's a barren rocky peak with spots of grass and strewn with rocks. You'd think you were in the West."
Convinced, Gamecock and Crimson Tide fans?
The 1967 song, a bluegrass music standard, talks about how "corn won't grow at all on Rocky Top."
Johnson says that's for sure.
"There's no sign of corn up there," he said.
The song also mentions "no smoggy smoke on Rocky Top, ain't no telephone bills."
Johnson, who's written a book about the Smokies, says it's so clear that "it's one of my favorite places because of the great views to the south, north, east and west."
There are in fact no telephone bills because no one lives anywhere nearby.
And, the song says "once two strangers climbed old Rocky Top, looking for a moonshine still."
Legendary moonshiner Marvin (Popcorn) Sutton lived in nearby Cocke County. He who wrote a tell-all book called "Me and My Likker: The True Story of a Mountain Moonshiner."
Fans of Tennessee rivals may be dismayed to learn that if they've hiked the Appalachian Trail, they've probably been on Rocky Top, the very spot celebrated with full-throated vigor by Tennessee boosters.
"It's not marked," Johnson said. "It's right across the Appalachian Trail, so a lot of people have walked across it and didn't know it."
The spot on Thunderhead Mountain is some 40 miles from Tennessee's Neyland Stadium, where fans wear T-shirts proclaiming: "I can't hear you. Rocky Top is playing."
Country composers Boudleaux Bryant of Gatlinburg, Tenn., and his wife Felice, now both dead, wrote the song in 10 minutes, inspired by tales about the spot.
"They were getting a visual of it when they wrote the song," Rodgers said.
It's been recorded by dozens of performers, including Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell, the Osborne Brothers and Lynn Anderson.
For loyal fans of other schools, hearing the song so much at games grates on their partisan ears.
Sniffed Gene Chunn of Knoxville, president of the East Tennessee chapter of the Alabama Alumni Association: "It's like it's the only song they know."
Associated Press writer Beth Rucker of Knoxville contributed to this story.
More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel.
© 2009, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Want to use this article? Click here for options!
NCAA Tennessee 83 - Ohio 68
Vols' spring practice wit…
NCAA Tennessee Lady Vols 75-4…
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
Comments » 38
ArealVolsFan writes:
More details as they develop online and in Friday's News Sentinel?
Seriously...its not like this is breaking news.
tnbanker_govols writes:
Wow, we must be hurting for some news around here. We do have a big-time matchup against South Carolina this weekend, right??
TommyJack writes:
Guess what? It annoys some Vol fans too. Wooo!
10volunteers98 writes:
I have a question for anyone who might know the answer.Where is Ethan Ingham,the walk-on kicker who played in the Orange And White game?He was hitting thirty-five and forty-yard kicks,and made it look easy.Goodness knows we need help at the kicking position!If he`s still on the team,why hasn`t Kiff given him an opportunity in a real game?Lincoln couldn`t hit a barn,even if he was kicking from inside the barn!I`m glad Palardy will be with the Vols next year.GO,VOLS!!!
salute_to_the_hill writes:
IT'S NOT THE FIGHT SONG!!!!!! DOWN THE FIELD IS THE FIGHT SONG!!!! GET IT RIGHT!!!!
Brillovol writes:
How are "more details" going to "develop" about an archaic mountain? And seconding the previous poster, this is not our official fight song (personally, "Fight, Vols, Fight!" is my favorite).
On that note, I wish we would play "Down the Field" more often. It oozes with collegiate nostalgia!
papavol writes:
I dont think the kicker has anything to do with a 400 lb beast busting through the line now does he?? I think we need to replace our soft line.
CrankE writes:
Once a reporter climbed on Rocky Top looking for ...uh...more details.
Reporter ain't come down from Rocky Top.
Reckon he never will.
UTsloV writes:
Lincoln may not can hit a barn, but he hit a Mountain twice.
listentothemusic writes:
Been there, nice day hike.
Lots of chestnuts along the way.
mbible1utk#324980 writes:
maybe this is for people atleast twice my age...but I don't see anything wrong with saying "we'll get you next year." It would be one of the five expected responses at the post game handshake. Now if Kiffin said "You'll never beat us again *$%@#~!head" that is a different story.
GhostofRobertNeyland writes:
Your daddy needs to take you out behind the wood shed and take a belt to your azz.
vol_chaz writes:
I climbed Rocky Top last year, next to Thunderhead Mtn., it provided great views to the east and of the Cades Cove Valley to the west.
volvoice writes:
I caught that too. IMO he just needs to button his pie hole until he does beat them, the Gators, Auburn, etc etc. At 3-4 and continually "talking" about beating teams while not doing it gets stale fast...especially if it continues next fall.
KENVOL writes:
He didn't break the line. He just stood up and got hit in the chest with the kick. I really almost don't call it a block. It wouldn't have made it if it didn't hit anything.
DenmarkVol writes:
Exactly. Sounds like it must be news to some damn Yankee. Folks where I come from have knowed that that hill was called Rocky Top since Dolly's great granma built the first outhouse with a winder in the door in these parts.
ArealVolsFan writes:
You ever thought about not being racist?
utvols420 writes:
TommyJack I have to tell you this. If Rocky Top annoys you, you are not a Vols fan. End of story. That song is as much a part of UT football as any player or coach.
utvols420 writes:
Peyton NEVER I repeat NEVER brags about himself and he really should because he is the best quarterback EVER. End of story
TommyJack writes:
What are you, eleven? Don't tell me about UT football. To me, the song is annoying.
VolCali writes:
Rocky Top is one of the most southernly remnants of glacers being present in the U.S. (i.e. boulder field). The view is spectacular. Every Vol fan should make it a point to visit it.
Agent_Orange writes:
"There are in fact no telephone bills because no one lives anywhere nearby."
Does that mean no cell phone bills, too?
podjo#230743 writes:
Thank You! Somebody has it right and they don't even play it during pre-game.
Down_The_Field writes:
AMEN, brother! i get tired of these punk writers writing junk about my school and acting like they know something. "down the field" and "fight vols fight" came first.
the last time i saw sonny osborne pick rocky top, he was wearing a kenlucky mildcat hat. it took me 2 minutes to erase it from my ipod and that included the time i took to puke.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Bama guy "Only song they know"!
Better than "Me and My Mullet".
DaVols writes:
Rocky Top been there several times. Oddly enough in the spring of the year, late may or early june, there are Orange flowers of some kind that bloom up there kinda like an azalea, but I'm no botanist. Fight, Vols Fight with all your might, for the Orange and White!!!! GBO
Futurecoach16 writes:
Actually, "Down the Field" is the LAST song played in the pregame show, when the magical moment of the T being opened takes place. You just can't hear it due to the 90+ thousand fans screaming. It is sandwiched between 2 rounds of "Fight Vols Fight".
GreeneCountyVol writes:
I'm a Smoky Mountains 900 Miler and have been to Rocky Top many times. In my mind, you can't be a true Vol fan without climbing Rocky Top at least once. Actually the Bryant song has almost nothing to do with the real Rocky Top except for the name. The best thing about the song Rocky Top is the way it annoys our opposition.
the10sevol writes:
thanks, fc16. i knew "Down the Field" was one of the two, but didn't know the name of the other one. so from your post, am i correct in thinking the POTSB is playing "Fight Vols Fight" as they form the T, and then "Down the Field" as they split it open for the team? would appreciate your continuing my uT education, lol, i graduated in '79, i really should know this stuff!
GBO
CrankE writes:
LOL; great one liner on Lincoln.
steamboatticket#484773 writes:
The Rocky Top in the article can be viewed from Spence Field, in the Great Smokey Mountains. It does appear like Pamela Rodgers' description, but is not actually "on" the Appalacian Trail. And hush...if you look at a compass line from Spence Field to Thunderhead Mountain, that "Rocky Top" definitely appears to be...uh...in North Carolina. Volunteer fans should know, however, that there is another Rocky Top. It is located in the mountain highlands between Nashville and Chattanooga. A green highway sign actually marks the place. Ask me no questions, but trust me; Rocky Top is real.
krb90#212730 writes:
I was always told that "Rocky Top" in the song refers to a place outside of Newport... not Thunderhead Mountain. Ask the old-timers from that area. Irregardless, I have been to both just in case.
nc14 writes:
Another unfulfilled promise. Anybody keeping count?
RollTideJoe writes:
Maybe, maybe not. We'll be there and lookin' forward to it!
y9since80 writes:
I have lived in sevier county my whole life
and have always been told that the song is about
rocky top in the cosby area. I know where the rocky top the article refers too is and it is a
beautiful place. About one mile east of spence
field.
Futurecoach16 writes:
Yes, that is correct. It's "Fight Vols Fight" going into the T, "Down the Field" when it opens, and then "Fight Vols Fight" when they come off the field. It's just very hard to hear it at that point of the show.
10volunteers98 writes:
Maybe so,but the kicker needs to be able to get the ball over the head,and out of arm`s reach of the '400-pound beast!'Lincoln kicks a lot of low kicks.Even the announcers were talking about it.Remember?
krb90#212730 writes:
Yes we are talking about the same place.
Share your thoughts
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.