Other people's youths

[mme_hardy]

 In the early twentieth century, schools had "fight songs", which the band played and the crowd sang to encourage the [insert an all-American sport here, none of your funny furrin soccer] team.   I don't know if colleges still have and play fight songs, because you couldn't get me to a college [insert blahblah sport] here match at gunpoint.

My high school had a fight song, too; somebody took Illinois Loyalty, sandpapered out "Illinois", and inserted the high school name instead. "Illinois Loyalty", I read, dates to 1906, which would explain the slang.

We'll back you to stand 'gainst the best in the land,

For we know you have sand, Illinois, Rah! Rah!

So crack out that ball, Illinois,

We're backing you all, Illinois,

Our team is our fame protector,

On! boys, for we expect a
victory from you, Illinois!

I'm guessing "sand" is a finer quality of "grit", which is another piece of slang you don't hear much any more.  Note the rhyme of "protector" and "expect a".  As I frequently remind my husband, in Midwestern all vowels are schwas unless declared otherwise.  I was taught in school that "pin" and "pen" are homonyms.  I can still remember the tune and the lyrics, which must mean that the song was performed at the (crosses self and shudders) mandatory pep rallies.   On the other hand, I am pretty sure I never sang the alma mater, which was also printed in our student rules and regulations books.  Wikipedia tells me the lyrics are "Dear [high school], stately thy grace, all hail. Tribute we bring to thee as we sing, all hail. Mem'ries float by as through the halls we trail. Cherished with pride, oh school of our life, all hail. Cherished with pride, O school of our life, all hail."   Eminently forgettable, in that high-minded meaningless way.
 

My college's alma mater had the chorus of "And the granite of New Hampshire in their muscles and their brains", which was great fun to belt out with an ironic sneer.  Except in Glee Club performances at alumni fund-raisers, where I belted it  out straight-faced.

Comments

[legionseagle]

My school had a song which was sung on Speech Day and at the end of the year assembly which ran

In our small world upon the hill
We live, we live together
And half forget that good or ill
A wider world awaits us still
And draws us thither
But though in quiet we sojourn
To know thy guiding light we learn
Thy guiding light we learn
And this alone shall be our light
The lamp of beauty truth and right!


William Morris meets St Paul, really.

Singing at school sports would have been considered bonkers in the extreme; indeed, I don't think anyone attended except the participants.

[sollers]

My school's song was in Latin, inherited from the original (18th century) boys' school. There is an element of humour in the idea of 600 girls earnestly singing

"Sit benedictus Dominus
Qui docet nos pugnare"

- "May the Lord be blessed, who teaches us to fight"

Ditto for school sports.

Godolphin and Latymer?

[(Anonymous)]

At Godolphin and Latymer school, this was our school song. Was that your school too, or did another school share it? I remember singing it on the first day of school, and thinking that the school term stretched interminably before me!

Re: Godolphin and Latymer?

[(Anonymous)]

Definitely godolphin and Latymer. I can remember in dextra pollens gladius hostes exuperare....but there was a bit with word Candida and I can’t get that which is annoying as I have friend called Candida and I want to sing it to her

[neotoma]

'Sand' in this context is something I've seen in Westerns and Civil War era stories, so I expect it's very old slang.

[flea]

My college alma mater is in Greek! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BsKFV9_T7Y (audio and words only)

[rinue]

"Grit" is making a big comeback, particularly among American secular conservatives interested in education reform. In other words, not religious conservatives angling for less science, more God, but the "stop coddling our children with this self esteem business; they should walk 50 miles in the snow" sort of conservatism. Back-to-basics rote learning stuff. "Grit" is being used as a shorthand.

I suspect it, rather than "determination," caught on because of True Grit and because it sounds old-timey, and the old-timeyness is a key element of "morally good" rather than simply useful.

[meara]

Hah. I can still sing my middle school, high school, and college fight songs. Though the middle and high school ones were just ripped off Notre Dame and Michigan songs. The college one is of the vintage you mention, and is extremely weird, but apparently they tried to replace it (back in the 80s?) and everyone complained. The alma mater I only know because I was in pep band and we had to play it, but that means i know the tune and not the words--except the ones we made up ("Hail to Georgetown Alma Mater, saaaaaacrifice your sons and daughters, paaaaaaay us 30,000 dollars each and every year...", though I imagine the price has gone up).

The fight song: (I know the whole thing again due to pep band and many many basketball and football games, I suspect most students fumble in the middle) What fight song urges people to LIE DOWN? It's also notable for our Ivy-Envy:

It's been so long since last we met
Lie down forever, lie down
Oh, have you any money to bet
Lie down forever, lie down!

There goes old...Georgetown
Straight for a...touchdown
See how they...gain ground
Lie down forever, lie down
Lie down forever, lie down!

Rah! Rah! Rah!
Hurrah for Georgetown
Cheer for victory today
'Ere the sun has sunk to rest,
In the cradle of the west
In the clouds will proudly float the Blue and Gray.

We've heard those loyal fellows up at Yale
Brag and boast about their 'Boola-Boola'
We've heard the Navy yell, we've listened to Cornell
We've heard the sons of Harvard tell
How Crimson lines could hold them
'Choo! Choo! Rah! Rah!', dear to Holy Cross
The proud old Princeton tiger is never at a loss
But the yell of all the yells,
The yell that wins the day
Is the 'HOYA, HOYA SAXA!' of the dear old Blue and Gray.

[ellen_fremedon]

My school song (elementary, middle, and high-- it was all in the same building) was also "Illinois Loyalty" with the Illinois replaced! But my school *fight* song was the Iowa State fight song, with no lyrics except "[High! School! Name!] Fight!" chanted twice in the bridge section.

My college fight song-- University of Iowa-- was by Meredith Wilson, and sounded exactly like you imagine a Meredith Wilson college fight song would sound; it was rather charming. If Iowa had an alma mater besides that, I never met anyone who knew it.

[castiron]

My college fight song has words that I couldn't tell you without Google, but in the marching band we always used the lyrics "Fight, fight fight; fight, fight fight; fight fight fight fight fight!" (etc.)

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Huckleberry Finn met a girl in his travels who helped him with some sort of signal in a window, iirc, and he said she had more sand than any other girl he ever met. I got an impression of something braver and more stable than 'grit'.

[dxmachina.livejournal.com]

Actually, grit gets used quite a lot on the sports page, especially for baseball, where gritty performances occur on a regular basis. The Arizona Diamondbacks even went out of their way last winter to trade away several talented ballplayers who just didn't have enough grit to suit their manager*. It is used totally non-ironically by sportswriters and front offices, usually to describe mediocre white ballplayers who "know how to win," and totally ironically by snarky bloggers and other online commentators to describe the same, usually to highlight the mediocrity.

* Most of the non-gritty players wound up playing in the playoffs with the Atlanta Braves whilst the gritty D'Backs are watching the games on TV.

My high school had both a fight song and an alma mater, both ripped off from the college we were the prep for. When I later attended the college, I found that the only people at the college who knew either song were those of us who had gone to the prep.