Watch the Texas Longhorns band perform its signature show each week in the SEC

Most SEC fans will be getting their first look at the Longhorn Band this fall as the Texas Longhorns join the new league and travel throughout the season.

The “Showband of the Southwest” was created in 1900 and is the largest spirit organization on the UT campus.

Being in the Longhorn Band is one of the coveted spots for any musician enrolled in the University’s Butler School of Music. In addition to performing at Royal-Memorial Stadium, the LHB performs at bowl games, pep rallies, parades and each year there is a special halftime show with the Longhorn Alumni Band.

During the spring, band members are required to participate in a Longhorn concert band, a jazz ensemble, a percussion ensemble or indoor color guard class.

The Longhorn Band traditionally plays “March Grandioso,” “Wabash Cannonball,” “Texas Fight” and the school song “The Eyes of Texas.”

Each week, the Longhorn Band then posts its performances to its YouTube channel.

“The Eyes of Texas” has a long history but came under scrutiny during the rise of social justice issues in 2020.

Some believe the song’s lyrics were racist considering the song’s origins. In 1902, UT student Lewis Johnson persuaded fellow student John Lang Sinclair, the University’s poet laureate, to write the lyrics. Sinclair took inspiration from, and meant to poke fun of, then-UT President William Prather, who routinely told students and faculty “the eyes of Texas are upon you.”

Prather’s intent was that people all over the state are watching what happens on the UT campus. However, some interpret the meaning to be taken from the words of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who was believed to have often said “the eyes of the South are upon you” as president of Washington College after the Civil War. Washington College was Prather’s alma mater.

The school asked a blue-ribbon panel of 24 individuals that cut across the UT landscape to investigate the song’s history. The panel produced a 58-page report that ultimately determined the song was first performed at minstrel shows by performers in black face. However, there was “no racist intent.”

In 2021, UT President Jay Hartzell announced that “The Eyes of Texas” would remain the school song. However, athletes were not required to sing the lyrics. Coaches did ask players to stay on the field until the song was completed, though.

As far as University of Texas officials are concerned, the matter is closed, no matter how much students try to rally around campus petition drives to keep the issue alive.

Hartzell also announced there would be the creation of a new band that would not perform “The Eyes” at functions. Mockingly called “the JV band” around campus, this new band never ultimately came to fruition as those inside the Butler School of Music didn’t want it.

The school has never publicly acknowledged there will not be a secondary Longhorn Band. The issue simply died out as time progressed.

The Longhorn Band continues as the “Showband of the Southwest,” featured in TV commercials and performing at all sorts of UT functions.