Songs of Yale -- 1701 -- "OLD TOM WILSON" -- "SHALL I, WASTING" -- "DADDY IS A YALE MAN" -- "AND WHEN THE LEAVES" -- "BZT BZT" -- "A PURPLE COW" -- "COMIN' THRU THE RYE" -- "GRACEFUL & EASY" -- "HIGH BARBARY" -- "THE POPE"

Speranza

Ten Songs of Yale you didn't know much about

It's always good to delvesinto the depths of song

 

Though clear favorites stand the test of time, and the old song books of Yale are full of the high stupidity of yester year, a few gems that aren't often — if ever — sung today stand out.

 

Some of these songs are beautiful, some hilarious, and some down-right offensive, but they all deserve a second look, and we're not convinced all of them should have fallen out of use.

 

An expert on the history of Yale songs may expand. 

 

We have only picked from a few books, but here are ten songs of Yale that still bring a smile to our faces.

   1. "Old Tom Wilson."

 

The piece is a song from the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky.

 

It features vocal banjos, vocal beer-chugging that gets longer each time the jug goes around.

 

Lyrics include lines such as

 

"Big fat gals that eat hot mush,"

 

and numerous key changes.

 

Somebody had the cojones to put it in the 1953 songbook, which is the one Yale sells in the bookstore to unwitting visitors. Represent!

 

   2. "Shall I, Wasting in Despair."

 

This rejection song's pretty tune -- and the fact that it is mentioned in "Baa baa baa" -- and effective setting caught our eyes when researching for our men's quartet last year.

 

The lyrics date to the 17th century, i.e. they are _old_.

 

Though we much prefer the  melody in the second tenor (an inner voice), this song is particularly effective when sung by the TTBB ensemble.

 

Present in every songbook going back to 1918.

3. "Daddy Is a Yale Man."

 

This is a song about a MOTHER OF THREE who marries somebody from Yale, then apparently sleeps with the entire student body before moving on to Harvard.

 

You can puzzle it out for yourself, while appreciating its terrific "boom-la" accompaniment and hysterical lyrics.

 

Someone had the grace to not put this in the more recent songbooks, but it's still in Barty's collection of 1953.

4. "And When the Leaves."

 

An anonymous song that has been in the songbook since the nineteenth century.

 

Though its lyrics seem somewhat obfuscating, we like their vague poetry, and have our own interpretation of their meaning.

 

An old letter written to Barty (which is on display in the YGC 150th exhibit, in the SML exhibit room), references poorly written songs that would make the Club's music teachers cringe.

 

Undoubtedly this fits the bill, with some remarkably poor counterpoint, but it sounds beautiful anyhow.

 

It remains in the 150th Anniversary songbook.

5. "Bzt! Bzt!" 

 

 Something about fish balls and soup, this is probably the most idiotic college song we've seen yet.

 

Back in 2009 a few of us crept into Battell under cover of night to sing all the songs we didn't dare try out in Hendrie.

 

Some couldn't breathe for laughing at "Bzt! Bzt!"

 

We found it in the 1918 songbook, and I haven't run across it anywhere else.

6. "A Purple Cow." T

 

 

This one's for the older alums, we guess, because some of our moms knew this nursery rhyme growing up.

 

The mystique of the lyrics about this royally-arrayed bovine is heightened by a

 

moo moo

 

accompaniment from the chorus. Find it in the 1918 songbook.

 

It somewhat combines with the baa baa.

   7. "Comin' Through the Rye."

 

An old Scottish song by Robbie Burns. 

 

Though its harmony is influenced by the barbershop tradition of the time, it is largely devoid of the typical schlock.

 

"Comin' Through the Rye" features a trio of soloists in a sort of concerto-grosso-for-chorus setup, and thus stands out from the mundane songs that surround it in its likely debut publication, the 1918 songbook.

8. "Graceful and Easy."

 

A very SHORT "barber shop" tune. We've never been able to sing this song with a straight face, due to a rather dubious third line in the lyrics and the five ladle-fuls of schmaltz the arranger poured on.

 

You can find it, for some reason, in the current songbook, but it goes back at least as far as 1918.

9. "High Barbary."

 

Right in front of my face for years, we didn't bother to look at this until after some graduated. 

 

Some wish some had.

 

Though it requires some rehearsal — it's slightly above the difficulty of "Shenandoah" and probably not suitable for a singing dinner — it delivers -- a large reward for so little effort required to learn it. Present in the most recent songbook and many before.

10. "The Pope."

 

During some senior year this one became a favorite among some of us for its slightly offensive lyrics, about how the Pope and the Sultan can engage in either alcoholic or libidinous behaviour, but not both.

 

The fourth verse is particularly hilarious for the way the music interacts with the words. Present in at least the 1918 and 1953 songbooks.

So sing to old Yale, to brave old Yale —