P.S. The preamble to "For Boston" mentions that it is the oldest fight song in college football. I've heard that before and was always a little suspect of its validity. Yet tonight I looked up every notable college fight song I could think of and didn't find one older than ours. Why doesn't BC play this up more often? It's a neat little fact.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Mood music
You know what I listened to today? The BC Marching Band's latest album -- "Traditions." If you don't have it, you can buy or download it for less than $10. The season is only a few weeks away, so we all have to do our part to get ready!
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5 weeks to go...
Viva La Eagles.
Did you see where Stewart Mandel of SI called the BC - Northwestern Game one of his four most intriguing games of week 1?
All fans who are not going away that weekend need to be in the stands. This really is a great opening game.
Go BC
Yes, The oldest fight song in college football.! Written by TJ Hurley. 1885, or was it?
Hurley graduated in 1885 but then was some kind of musical director at BC. I looked into it awhile ago and the date of composition of "For Boston" is murky. Was it when Hurley was an undergrad in 1885? Or was it when he a musical director in the early 1900s.? The song references the Towers on Heights, which is the present campus, but that campus did not exist in 1885. The present campus was built after 1909 In 1885 Hurley attended BC in South Boston. I could be completely wrong about this, but the bottom line is that 1885 composition date is suspect. On the other hand, maybe the song was written initially written in 1885 but then modified in the 1900s to add reference to towers on the Heights. The Song has been modified in other respects over the years.
Maybe some eager undergrad can take this on as a research project!
But until proven otherwise BC's very lame sorts marketing people should run with the "oldest" theory.
I'm guessing that when a song is altered, it probably loses its "oldest" or "longest running" status.
"For Boston" was most recently changed in the 80's when "for here men are men" was changed to "for here all are one".
Restoration work gets done on the Parthenon every once in awhile and it doesn't lose it's status as one of the oldest man-made structures.
Track 22 -- "Sean Maximus" -- induces goosebumps. Counting down 'til kickoff...
Everygody loves a band except the BC administration. They refuse to authorize the travel of the band to bowl games. This is "small minded and petty". Band offers discipline and integrity. To constantly tell these kids that they can't go is stupid. Band members have more dedication and emotional support than most football players.
You knew someone would bring up the let band travel argument eventually. We have it every bowl season when a member posts a "Email Gene and complain for us" message. We all appreciate the band, but there are economics to consider. TO take the whole band requires chartering another plane.. hotel rooms/food/ground transport/etc for how many people? We're not a big school with a million boosters so footing a $75K bill is not cheap...
Have a fundraiser and embarrass the AD.
We should probably have a fundraiser to get fans to go to the bowl games while we're at it.
"Why doesn't BC play this up more often?"....
How many things can we list that could have potentially preceded that question? *sigh*
Does anybody see where a CD of this album can be purchased? I see the download link, but a home-burned CD doesn't make as nice of a gift as a "retail" copy.
Jeff,
I've bought the last couple BC marching band CD's (I think they're called "Game Day" and "We Are BC") at the BC bookstore, so that might be a good place to look for the new CD.
I bet if the Chick-fil-A poohbahs knew we had the oldest fight song, they'd think twice about passing us over. It also probably would have gotten us a couple more skill position players. I'm sure it would have boosted season ticket sales too.
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