Forty Years On (song)

"Forty Years On" is a song written byEdward Ernest BowenandJohn Farmerin 1872.
It was originally written forHarrow School,but has also been adopted by many other schools includingWestville Boys' High School, Simon Langton Boys School Canterbury Kent,Starehe Boys' Centre and School,Beverley Grammar School(reputedly the oldest state school in England),Dover Grammar School for Boys,Wellington College, Wellington, Otahuhu College, Auckland,Melbourne High School,Netherthorpe School, Tormead School,Spalding Grammar School,Pretoria Boys High School, Nelson College,Napier Boys' High School,Woodford County High School for Girls,Colyton Grammar School,Camberwell Grammar School,Bolton School,Bolton School Boys Division,Bolton School Girls Division, Frensham (Mittagong, NSW) Mayfield Comprehensive School, Putney, now defunct Middlesbrough Junior Technical School,  London in the early 1960s and Wroxall Abbey School.
It is specifically about life at school, and is meant to give pupils now an idea of what it will be like in forty years when they return to their old school, and to remind old boys about their school life.
It is the main school song of Harrow School, and is sung there at the end of any "Songs" – occasions when old boys of the school return to hear the schools songs being sung by current boys, or an occasion within houses for singing the same songs at the end of each term – followed by "Auld Lang Syne" and the British national anthem ("God Save the King"). The "Churchill" verse, written to celebrate the life of one most famousOld Harrovian,Sir Winston Churchillis only sung once a year at a special Churchill Songs. Traditionally, verse three is sung by Old Harrovians in attendance at School Songs. The Churchill verse The penultimateFollow Up!in each chorus is sung unaccompanied by the School XII, which is made up of the best singers in the top year.
"With the tramp of the twenty-two men" refers to the twenty-two players on the field during a game ofHarrow football, a game that is ancestral toassociation footballand played exclusively at Harrow School - this part may be likewise altered at other schools for other sports like rugby or football that may be more significant to the school.
It inspired the title of (and is sung in)Forty Years On, a play by Alan Bennett. The song was also used in the filmsYoung Winston(1972) andNever Let Me Go(2010).
The original Churchill verse, sung to him on 12 November 1954, was as follows:
Adapted from the Harrow School version, written in 1872:
Forty years on, when afar and asunder,Parted are those who are singing today,When we look back and forgetfully wonderWhat we were like in our work and our play:Brotherhood strong and our teachers devoted,Assembly, Chapel, the House where we grew,Posho,Githeri, the Founders' Day dinner,Talks in Baraza, the friendship we knew.
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!Give honour again and again,To Starehe where we became men,Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!
O the great days in the distance enchanted,Hours in the classroom and hours in the field,In games and athletics we struggled and panted,Learning to strive hard and never to yield,Scouting, exploring, those long expeditions,Fighting of fires, swimming and First Aid,Playing of music, debating and drama,Voluntary service – our first steps we made.
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!etc.
Forty years on growing older and older,Shorter in wind as in memory long,Feeble of foot and rheumatic of shoulder,What will it help us that once we were strong?God gives us duty for us to discharge it,Problems to face, struggle with and overcome,Service to render and glory to covet,Twenty and thirty and forty years on!
Lenga Juu! Lenga Juu!etc.
"Forty Years On" is the school song of Wellington College inWellington, New Zealand. It is also sung atNapier Boys' High Schoolin Napier, at the breakup ceremony atWaitaki Boys' High Schoolin the 1960s, and at Timaru Boys' High School at least from 1913. A variation of the song was also sung atChristchurch Boys' High Schoolat least during the later 1940s and early 1950s.Feilding Agricultural High School(F.A.H.S), in Feilding, also used it as its school song for a number of years.
In Australia, the song is sung at a number of schools. In the Australian state ofVictoria, the song is sung regularly at prestigious independent schoolsWesley College, Melbourne,Haileybury, Melbourne,Carey Baptist Grammar School,Camberwell Grammar SchoolandScotch College, Melbourne, being the official Old Boy anthem and atMelbourne High School's Speech Night (Graduation Night). Wynnum State high and Rockhampton Girl's Grammar School (School Song). Only the first and last verses (excluding the Winston Churchill verse) are sung. Rather than the "tramp of the twenty-two men", Haileybury College, Carey, Camberwell Grammar School, Scotch College and Melbourne High School all replace the line with the "tramp of the thirty-six men" in reference toAustralian rules footballbeing the dominant football code inVictoria. It is also the school song ofFrensham SchoolinNSW, an all-girls boarding school, where it is traditionally sung on the school's birthday and at Old Girl's reunions.
In the United Kingdom: the school song of the oldBrewood Grammar Schoolfor boys,Netherthorpe School,Colyton Grammar School, Dover Grammar School, Woodford County High School in Essex,Beverley Grammar Schoolin East Yorkshire,Bolton School,Manchester Grammar School, Stand Grammar School Whitefield, High Storrs Grammar School, Sheffield, Ecclesfield Grammar School, Sheffield (1931–1973) the now-defunctSalford Grammar School, the former Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys, Leicester (succeeded byWyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College) and Harrow School's affiliated school,The John Lyon School.  In the 1950s and 1960s, it was also the school song ofClifton High School in Bristol, an all-girls school at the time. It is also the school song ofWycombe High Schoolfor girls and was also sung at the end of term in the 1980s at Wycombe Abbey School, in whose songbook it figured. It was also sung by King Edward's Grammar School for Boys,Five Ways, Birmingham, in the 1950s by all the school leavers.  It was also the school song of Lawnswood (formerly Leeds Modern School) hence the title ofAlan Bennett's playsince he is a former pupil. Also sung at the now-defunctHelston Grammar Schoolin Helston, Cornwal, England.
In theKing's School, Canterbury, the song was sung in the 1920s. It was replaced with 'The School of Theodore' hymn.
In the United States: sung at theCranbrook Kingswood Schoolin Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (excluding the Winston Churchill verse) at the commencement ceremony. Also sung atSt. Timothy's Schoolin Stevenson, Maryland as part of a tradition dating back to 1882 (though it is sung faster and with some major alterations in the lyrics).
In India: theCathedral and John Connon Schoolof Bombay's school song,Prima in Indus, is an adaptation of this.
In Sri Lanka: it is used as the school anthem of Kandy Girls' High School, a prestigious school.
In Kenya: it is sung on Founders' Day atStarehe Boys' Centre and School.
In South Africa: atPretoria Boys High School, Pretoria, it is sung at all School Valedictions and assemblies at which Old Boys are present, with certain minor adaptions. "Twenty-two good men" is substituted by "thirty good men". It is also sung atWestville Boys' High School,Durban, when the matrics have their speech night and ring the Swain bell symbolizing their departure from the school and continued ties to its family. The ringing of the bell is the final act of the Matric group before the final exams. Also the school song for girls' school Girls Collegiate School,  Pietermaritzburg - references to males replaced with female one's.
In Thailand, atVajiravudh Collegeconsidered to be the country's best boarding school built by King Rama VI (King Vajiravudh) in 1910, the "tramp of twenty-two men" became "The Might of Thirty Best Men" in reference to the school's supremacy in Rugby.  There are also lyrics in Thai which is sung each year before theKing of Thailandat the Graduation Ceremony.
InHong Kong, the melody is used byQueen's Collegeas its school song, with its lyrics written by Headmaster Mr. William Kay (1920). The school song ofHeep Yunn Schoolis also adapted from this song but its lyrics are in Chinese, rather than English which Queen's College uses.
In Canada, the girls atHavergal CollegeinTorontoalso sing this at their candlelight ceremony - a "passing of the torch" between the incoming and outgoing graduating classes.
A shortened and slightly altered version of this song is used near the beginning of the 2010 film adaptation ofNever Let Me Go.