Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-05-08
NO. 1Os.
College Songs.
ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF SoxE oE THE Nom
FAMILIAR ONES

| FAMILIAR ONES.
The two very entertaining concerts by the
Yale Glee Club were full Of the college smack
and flavor and may be taken as a favorable
illustration ofthe peculiar song singing which,
in the course of the last so years or 40.
has come to be = peculiar feature in the
American schools. There were in the ancient
days chap, choirs and musical clubs OF one
sort and another among the students, and IL
may be that even the first undergraduates of
Harvard got up quartet occasionally. for
which, according to DIR. Holmes, their mum.
Der was just sufficient. Sacred music could
| never be ont of style in colleges founded
primarily for the education of ministers, and
young men in schools picked up songs both
grave and CAV and sung them there "a they
| might sing them elsewhere, but, in the course
| of the last three or four decades, q type Of
| distinct college songs has grown up. and
vocal music has been developed to such an
| extent that it would be hard to find bachelor
| Of arts among us who has not at least been
accustomed to join in the chorus us--sometimes
with serious consequences to the same--whep
his classmates have lifted up their voices in
song
College music can hardly be called original
so far as composition is concerned, for il ia
almost universally an adoption Of some old
air to new words. One Of the earliest student
songs that became popular in this country
was Benny Havens, o." so named in honor
Of Mr.. Benjamin Havens. who kent A small
mercantile establishment in the vicinity OF
West Point, wherein he supplied forums of
punch and other commodities to the truant
cadets at unseemly hours of the night. The
air was one to which, in later years, the Irish
wearing of the Green has been sung. AL.
most every Eastern college had local song
OF its own, which went to the tune Of Benny
Havens"
For the introduction of the college song
proper in this country are. more than to
any other one man, indebted to Mr.. r. Storrs
Willis. who is now n resident of this CITY,
After graduating in the Yale class of Al he
spent six years in Germany, and on his re-
turn took up his abode for a while in New
Haven, and taught the students there the
Latin song of "Gaudeamus." which he had
learned among the German universities.
''Gaudeamus' soon came to be regarded by
the Yale boys with about the same feeling az
Englishmen have for God Save the King"
or the French Republicans for the "Marseil.
aise." IL is sung on all occasions Of festivitv
and of sorrow, and it has served more than
once as a veritable war song when battles
have been impending with the "townies."
Harvard was not slow to catch the singing
sHHt. anu III tne course OIL q rev WARS tho
students of all the larger Eastern colleges
had extensive repertories of a song, which
they gave in society halls, in all accidental
gatherings on the college grounds. and most
OF all, perhaps, while indulging in the classi.
cal pastime of sitting on the fence One of
the most beautiful Of all was another import
ed Latin song. 'Lauriger Horatius," which
made its appearance at Yale about the year
1850. dozen years later some Southern
students gave the cir to the words. 'sMv
MARYLAND which became the most popular
of the songs of the rebellion. The original
"Lauriger." as well as "Gaudeamus"
"Integer Vita," and several other Of the best
college songs, was arranged and published in
sheet form by Mr.. Willis, and of late years
they have been frequently repubished in COL
lections of college songs, sometimes with.
and sometimes without permission and ac-
Acknowledgement.
"Fair Harvard" is given the place Of honor
at Cambridge, and "The Lone Fish Ball."
''It's a way we have at old Harvard" "Upi-
dee" and "Ba-be- -bi-bo. .bu," appear among
the less solemn songs, and George F. Roots
''There's Music in the Air. among the senti.
mental ones. Of the early "nonsense songs"
that came into vogue were "Shool," .'Co-
ca-che-lunk," and 1.-The Sheepskin" Ito the
tune of "A Little More Cider'') These have
pt'h suPpitiutnNeu Dy Ts,untlI their num-
Der is legion, as the experience of the two
nights at Merrill Hall will attest, and they
are heard at Ann Arbor and all other West.
ern colleges with no loss Of their pristine
spirit and vigor. Even now glee club Of
Marietta is giving a series of concerts through
Ohio, and probably the tuneful representa-
tives of other colleges are also ION the road
Operatic airs are made to do service, as in
the case Of the Trumpet Song from II
Pnritani." which is frequently joined to the
words OF secret society songs. and sometimes
to the Latin words Of "Lauriger;" and such
odd conjunctions as "Mary had little lamb,
shouting the battle cry of freedom" are not
uncommon. The wearisome old .s{sreepyille"
is divorced from '.Far from mortal care. re.
treating" and made almost tolerable with the
words, Saw my leg off, short" the two nnal
notes Of each strain Of the tune being omit
ed. The "Menagerie" has done good service.
with the well known chorus:
The elephant now goes round. the band begins to
The boy. around the monkey. car. had b..,., keen
away.
The Derby Ram" and "Bingo" are adap.
tations from old English school songs, familiar
to young Britons generations ago. The song
Of "Peter Gray" which was rendered bv the
Yale Club here, with some variation from the
music as first written. ought IN possess a
local interest, for in its original shape il was
a serious song called pheasant Michigan"
Of which the last word in the refrain was
heightened to .Michigan-i-a-a-a." The bur.
lesque Of Wilkins and Dinah, +" borrowed by
some of the colleges from the old Bowery
Theatre, was in like manner rustic senti-
mental song, called .Sir William and Dinah."
"Springfeld Mountain" was familiar in
Western Massachusetts before the college
boys took it up. The air to which Kirke
Whites hymn, "When marshaled on the
nightly plain" is usually sung has : singular
effect when the ords of the "Three Crows"
are deaconed of to it, after the fashion Of
''Bohunkus''
If there is any music in this country, out
side of the well worn Ethiopian melodies now
out of fashion. which can be said TO constitute
distinctively American school, perhaps
there Is none better entitled to be 20 reekcned
than that composite product Of the musical
geDiusss in the schools of America known ~
college songs.-Detroit Post
Professor Huxley will probably come to
America this year.