Fight the Urge to Sing This

By --Bill Shaikin

Oct. 15, 2002 12 AM PT

Welcome aboard the Angel bandwagon, and here are the lyrics to the team fight song. The existence of a fight song might surprise even longtime fans, since the Angels stashed the song in the proverbial attic for years. This year, with the return of the traditional halo to the logo, the Angels also brought back the old fight song in one of their television commercials, changing “California Angels” to “Anaheim Angels.”

The song was written in 1966, the year the Angels moved from Los Angeles to Anaheim, and copyrighted by Walt Disney Music Co. The lyrics appeared in the Angel game programs for several years thereafter; the sheet music currently is on display in the “Baseball as History” exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

The “Golden West” referred to the name used by Gene Autry, the Angels’ founding owner, for his baseball and broadcasting companies. The fight song traditionally preceded Angel broadcasts on Autry’s KMPC (710 AM); that instrumental jingle can be heard as the “Angels Baseball March” on a Web site devoted to the old radio station at: https://www.710kmpc.com/jingles.htm.

CHORUS:

California Angels A-OK!!

California Angels all the way!!

Hear them shout that you’re the best

Clear throughout “The Golden West”

Watch ‘em play night and day. Keep the crowds in the clouds.

California Angels win that game!!

California Angels win that fame!!

Ev’rybody blow your horn! With a halo we adorn the California Angels team.

INTERLUDE

Short or tall, large or small; Welcome any time!

Have a ball one and all, come to Anaheim!!