So, going into Gone to Texas, I knew some of the words, although all I really remembered was that it begins with "The Eyes of Texas are upon you" and ends with "'Til Gabriel blows his horn." And knowing those two bits, I was expecting a really cool song, on par with some of the high school songs we've heard over the past few years.
BTW, is it weird that my high school only had one song? Schools down here have a school song and a fight song, but GCHS only has one that serves as both. I don't know if that's a Texas thing, a southern thing, or if it's a nationwide thing and we just didn't participate. Regardless, the school songs I've heard down here really are like hymns, and I was expecting more of the same from my university.
So, Gone to Texas began with a girl singing "The Eyes of Texas", and I wasn't listening too closely, because I was getting Chad & I some water and was dodging people to get back to my seat, although I did think, "Hmmm, that tune sounds familiar."
Before I could place it, though, I got back to my seat and Chad was singing the second verse... of "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Yep, that's my school song. You have got to be kidding me.
Chad did a little research and apparently one of the sites he ran across says that the tune started out as an insult to UT (edited to add: Apparently it was an insult to the then-UT president, not the entire university), but in truly Texas fashion, the then-authorities embraced the insult as a compliment and it stuck. Sigh. All the really cool words in the world can't fix that tune.
So, yes, I am disappointed by my school song. As we left that evening, they were playing it again and everyone was singing along, and I told Chad, "I should have gone to Notre Dame."
'Cause their song rocks.
2 comments:
It was kind of weird for me too. When I came to Anderson, we have a school song and then the Anderson Anthem. So, that was different.
Is GC just weird, do you think? Or do most high schools in IN only have one song?
Post a Comment