SB Nation Boston Editor's Pick
You'll Never Walk Alone at Boston College
by franz hartl on Aug 17, 2010 1:37 AM EDT
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A small proposal.
We might be small, but we sing better than any other fan base in college football. And this this is not a recent development, it is our tradition. So much so, that we have the oldest fight song in collegiate athletics.
In case you need to be reminded, "For Boston" is over 125 years old and sounds like this:
Now we already adore singing some sentimental songs, like "Build Me Up, Buttercup!" and "Sweet Caroline."
BC should be looking to further embrace and extend our musical heritage. If we are going to be Harvard on weekdays and Alabama on Saturdays (and at Mass on Sundays), we are going to need to something that will overwhelm Alabama's Rammer Jammer. I believe that this year we can start a new tradition that will accomplish this goal.
We need to start singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" before and after our games, very much in the way Liverpool FC does in the English Premier League. The lyrics perfect capture everything that is right about Boston College: the solidarity, fraternity, and Christian triumph of hope. The song is perfect for moment that we are in the midst with Mark Herzlich.
AND IT IS THE MOST POWERFUL SPORTING ANTHEM IN EXISTENCE AND NO MAJOR PROGRAM IN UNITED STATES IS DOING IT. We can be the first again!
BEHOLD!
This is something that we can implement immediately, our student section will instantly rally around and will sing, will instantly improve our game day experience, will memorialize what has happened with Mark and invigorate the amity Boston College alumnus already overwhelmingly feel towards each other. It will also cost a negligible amount to implement and will not require approval from our neighbors.
So what say you? Is this a good idea? Can we make it happen?
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good idea
I’m English and I’ll be at my first games this year. I’ll sing along.
I like this idea, but this sounds really similar to BC’s Alma Mater. I’d imagine we’d get some serious pushback from Liverpool as that song is very closely associated with the football club. Not to mention non-Liverpool EPL fans would hate it.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
According to wikipedia.... (take as you will)
Other teams that are using the song are Scottish team Celtic F.C., Dutch teams Feyenoord and FC Twente, the Belgium team Club Brugge, Germany’s Borussia Dortmund and FC St Pauli and Japan’s F.C. Tokyo.
So we won’t be the first to appropriate the song, just the first team playing sports in the U.S.
And it wouldn’t be the most egregious taking either. I believe that the Rammer Jammer is a derivative of the Hotty Toddy of Old Miss.
My other concern is getting Superfans to learn the words.
I know the lyrics to For Boston, but I have a problem and am clearly not in the majority. Most BC fans don’t even know the lyrics to For Boston, let alone the Alma Mater.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
Counterintuitively, I believe that we could get people to learn “For Boston” and our Alma Mater if we started singing more songs and not reducing the requirements. It will be tradition. When you are a student you wear you superfan shirt and you are going to be singing. That is what we do. And woe to you, if you do not participate. And if you don’t know the words, look up at the screens where the words will be.
Plus, If we had one a song that we all sang before the game started and we had a culture where it was the fans job to sing before hand. It would become unacceptable to be late, ending our kick off capacity problem.
The other thing to keep in mind is that because we are 44,500 we are never can be as loud as some of the other places, but 44,500 is a really good size for singing. Liverpool FC’s home at Anfield holds 45,276. So if we can’t be as loud as Happy Valley, or the Swamp, or Lane, let’s overwhelm our opponents by being in unison.
I never knew ....
Despite many decades of being part of the BC community, I never knew that BC’s fight song was the oldest in the country!
But if you go to WIKI “fight songs”, it says " The oldest collegiate fight song in the United States is Boston College’s “For Boston”, composed by T.J. Hurley in 1885" So, by God, it is true!!!
Showtunes!
Running with a Rogers and Hammerstein piece is certainly better than ATL Eagle’s vuvuzela idea. For it to really work though, we need the athletic department to cooperate and play the music and put the words up on the big screen
Personally, I’m a big fan of the band’s recent covers of Coldplay – Viva la Vida and Maino – All The Above. I like that they continue to mix it up and cover more recent, popular songs.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
The Lyrics and Other Performances.
Here is the song performed by Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Judy Garland, and the one played in sporting events – Gerry and the Pacemakers.
These are the lyrics:
When you walk
Through a storm
Hold your head, up high
And don’t be afraid, of the dark
because at the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song
Of the lark
Walk on, through the wind
Walk on, through the rain
Though your dreams be tossed
And blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope, in your heart
And you’ll never walk alone
You’ll never walk alone
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your hearts
You’ll never walk, alone
I don’t think For Boston was written in 1885. For starters, there were no “Towers on the Heights” in 1885. BC didn’t move to Chestnut Hill until 1913. That alone should be enough proof, but also the (admittedly not altogether reliable) Wikipedia entry for the song says that it was composed by T.J. Hurley, class of 1885. He may just have been an alum who wrote it 30+ years after he graduated. Sadly, I don’t think we have the oldest fight songs in college sports.
by will_the_thrill on Aug 17, 2010 1:41 PM EDT reply actions
Excellent catch, I stand corrected.
I was just having this conversation, my friend said fight songs seems to be like a blues songs which are proclaimed to be older than the attributed authors.
I still stand by the claim that we sing better than anybody else in CFB.
Good catch on the "Towers on the Heights" lyrics
My guess though is that the tune (actual music) was written in 1885 but the lyrics have been modified over the years.
For example, the Kansas fight song lyrics have to be modified now that Nebraska and Colorado left the Big 12.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
“Composed by” T.J. Hurley. I’d be willing to bet it is, in fact, the oldest fight song but that the lyrics have changed over the years. Just a suspicion.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
Sub turri 1914
I found this blurb from the 1914 Sub Turri (BC year book) showing that Mr Thomas J Hurley was singing at the Height in 1914. Did he write “For Boston” then, or earlier when he was a student?
Here is the blurb:
Glee Club
IF THERE be one among you who has any qualms about accepting on
faith the dictum of the poet that “Music hath charms,” etc. — let him
Hsten but a moment to the melody-melding warbling of our College Glee
Club and he will see (or rather hear) the error of his ways. For be it known,
this Glee Club in its second year of existence has attained no slight degree of
eminence in the realm of harmony under the masterly direction of Mr. Thomas
J. Hurley, ‘85, as coach, and Thomas C. O’Hare, ‘14, as president. With
Maurice Flynn, ’15, handling the managerial reins, an excellent schedule of
concerts and exhibitions was arragned, giving the club’s activities a much
broader scope than was formerly true.
The Boston College Pop Night at Symphony Hall will serv’e as a grand finale
for the 1913-4’ songsters and they are zealously and untiringly striving to make
their farewell appearance a memorable one. With the excellent vocal talents
of the individual members of the club and the skill and ability of their accompa-
ni-,t, John Garrick, ’15, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that the “Pop”
concert evening will be an unusual musical treat along vocal lines as well as in-
strumental.
Love this idea
Going to soccer games in the US and Europe is unlike anything in the rest of pro sports in this country. The closest thing is college football (where else would you have traveling “away” supporters?!) If this were adopted by BC, I’d surely take it up at the one game a year I go there.
by chicagofire1871 on Aug 17, 2010 2:13 PM EDT reply actions
I’m intrigued. I love the pageantry surrounding college football. I’m a bit suspicious of the claim that BC has the “oldest” fight song. Not sure such a claim can be substantiated – full disclosure, I’m the friend of Mr. Hartl’s who questioned him privately about this.
Will_the_thrill is on to something – every attribution of For Boston states Mr. Hurley was class of 1885. That’s a far cry from stating the song was written in 1885. If the year of penning is of prime concern (rather than verisimilitude) why not claim Mr. Hurley composed the song as a freshman? Give yourself a few extra years of breathing room…
Not sure 45,000 inebriated fans singing an off-key song in unison is the answer to BC’s kickoff attendance woes. Then again, how many times have I drunkenly swayed and sang We are the Boys of Old Florida after the 3rd quarter at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium…
Why not 1885?
I reviewed a glimpse a book (on Google) on the history of BC. The book notes that TJ Hurely was very involved in picking BC’s school colors and that this was done in the 1880 time frame.
One would supposed that TJ Hurley brimmed with the BC spirit while a college student and that he penned “For Boston” when he was a college student.
The only strong evidence that it was written later than 1885 is the reference to the Tower on the Heights. But that might have just been a modification of the original lyrics, it does not neccesarily mean the entire song was written circa 1913.
However, I did see (on a Google search) a reference to a 1929 piece of sheet music for “For Boston” and it supposedly says it was written by “TJ Hurley ’08.” So maybe he did write it in 1908, (but that too would be before theTower on the Height emerged)
Let’s stick with the honor or being oldest until it is proven otherwise!!
i commend the effort
Great post, and although my hatred for Merseyside runs deep, i like where your head is at.
I personally like Glory Glory Boston College. (Tottenham Hostpur)
Unfortuantely i dont think the English footbal game’s love of songs and over the top crowd participation translates well to a college football scenario.
Soccer is a game that is in continuous movement that allows for songs that drag out and to be frank its a game that has much more rhythm to it.
At Alumni songs are usually pre-game or during a timeout, or a stoppage in play. And when we want to intimidate or get loud, it usuaully doesnt involve a song or chant over 4 words long. Let’s keep things simple. If we couldnt get “eagles on the warpath…OOOOH AHHH” going i doubt we’ll incorporate a new song in crunch time.
If it ain't broke...
Stick with For Boston or Shippin Up to Boston. We could always improve the entrance though. Maybe play one of those two along with a big band lead up to the players charging out. And as always I think we need a bagpipe section to imrpove gameday.
Haha, I’m with BCRaj, bring back Eagles on the Warpath…ooh..ahh! ;) And I thought that was the worst Superfan logo until I saw “Talons of Fury…Get Ready!”
by chicagofire1871 on Aug 18, 2010 12:24 AM EDT reply actions
Bite your tongue
Eagles on the Warpath! is a classic Superfan slogan. Anything beats what they have going on this year. They wrote a mini-novel on the back of the shirts this year.
BC Interruption, SBN's Boston College Eagles blog
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