Happy 143rd Birthday Rutgers Alma Mater

[Source]

On December 11, 1873 a Glee Club member, Edward E. Colburn, went to the home of student Howard N. Fuller, Class of 1874, living at 41 Schureman Street in New Brunswick about 3:00 pm and requested a song for an exhibition in Flatbush that evening (the Glee Club wouldn't have its first official event until the spring semester in Metuchen). It took Fuller two hours to write the seven stanza lyrics set to the music of “On the Banks of the Old Dundee.” The line “since the time of the flood” does not refer to any particular storm but may have been a reference to the Biblical flood.

Howard Fuller returned just before WWI to re-write the alma mater into a more embracing song for Rutgers as a whole. In 1913, he reminisced, “… in those days Rutgers had a name as a singing college and “On the Banks…” was held by impartial judges to be the best song that any college or university, east or west, possessed..."

The Original "On the Banks of the Old Raritan"
(adapted from the song “On the Banks of the Old Dundee)
Lyrics: Howard Fuller, Class of 1874 written December 11, 1873
Organist: John Opier, Class of 1874
As published for the first time in the 1875 February Targum:

My father sent me to Old Rutgers,
And vowed that I should be a man;
Thus I settled down,
In that noisy College town,
On the banks of the Old Raritan.

Chorus:

On the Banks of the Old Raritan, my boys,
Where Old Rutgers evermore shall stand;
For has she not stood
Since the time of the flood*,
On the Banks of the Old Raritan.
[*In 1873 “flood” rhymed with the word “stood”]

As Fresh, they used me rather roughly,
But I the fearful gauntlet ran,
And they shook me so about
That they turned me inside out,
On the Banks of the Old Raritan.

I passed through all these tortures nobly,
And then, as Soph, my turn began,
And I hazed the poor Fresh so
That they longed for Heaven, I know,
On the banks of the Old Raritan.

And soon I made my social entrée
When I laid fun many a wicked plan
By which my cunning art
Slew many a maiden’s heart,
On the banks of the Old Raritan.

Then sing aloud to Alma Mater,
And keep the Scarlet in the van*, [*in the vanguard or forefront]
For with her motto high
Rutgers’ name shall never die
On the banks of the old Raritan.

 

[RUScrew85]

On December 11, 1873 a Glee Club member, Edward E. Colburn, went to the home of student Howard N. Fuller, Class of 1874, living at 41 Schureman Street in New Brunswick about 3:00 pm and requested a song for an exhibition in Flatbush that evening (the Glee Club wouldn't have its first official event until the spring semester in Metuchen). It took Fuller two hours to write the seven stanza lyrics set to the music of “On the Banks of the Old Dundee.” The line “since the time of the flood” does not refer to any particular storm but may have been a reference to the Biblical flood.

Howard Fuller returned just before WWI to re-write the alma mater into a more embracing song for Rutgers as a whole. In 1913, he reminisced, “… in those days Rutgers had a name as a singing college and “On the Banks…” was held by impartial judges to be the best song that any college or university, east or west, possessed..."

The Original "On the Banks of the Old Raritan"
(adapted from the song “On the Banks of the Old Dundee)
Lyrics: Howard Fuller, Class of 1874 written December 11, 1873
Organist: John Opier, Class of 1874
As published for the first time in the 1875 February Targum:

My father sent me to Old Rutgers,
And vowed that I should be a man;
Thus I settled down,
In that noisy College town,
On the banks of the Old Raritan.

Chorus:

On the Banks of the Old Raritan, my boys,
Where Old Rutgers evermore shall stand;
For has she not stood
Since the time of the flood*,
On the Banks of the Old Raritan.
[*In 1873 “flood” rhymed with the word “stood”]

As Fresh, they used me rather roughly,
But I the fearful gauntlet ran,
And they shook me so about
That they turned me inside out,
On the Banks of the Old Raritan.

I passed through all these tortures nobly,
And then, as Soph, my turn began,
And I hazed the poor Fresh so
That they longed for Heaven, I know,
On the banks of the Old Raritan.

And soon I made my social entrée
When I laid fun many a wicked plan
By which my cunning art
Slew many a maiden’s heart,
On the banks of the Old Raritan.

Then sing aloud to Alma Mater,
And keep the Scarlet in the van*, [*in the vanguard or forefront]
For with her motto high
Rutgers’ name shall never die
On the banks of the old Raritan.

Yeah except they killed that song on the alter of political correctness so it's only like the 5th anniversary of the new version. Can't have it both ways,

 

[G- RUnit]

I object to the word Alma Mater. Its sexist.

 

[motorb54]

Yeah except they killed that song on the alter of political correctness so it's only like the 5th anniversary of the new version. Can't have it both ways,

The sad part is that there was no need to change it to be politically correct.
Simply view the words as those of that long ago Rutgers student. Fixed.
So a woman can sing " and vowed that I should be a man" just like they have done at Rutgers college since 1972.

 

[BoroKnight]

Yeah except they killed that song on the alter of political correctness so it's only like the 5th anniversary of the new version. Can't have it both ways,

They killed THIS version five years ago? Did you read the lyrics? THIS version has been dead for a long, long time, although I would like to know when it was replaced by the version we know (before they tampered with it for no reason).

 

[RUScrew85]

The sad part is that there was no need to change it to be politically correct.
Simply view the words as those of that long ago Rutgers student. Fixed.
So a woman can sing " and vowed that I should be a man" just like they have done at Rutgers college since 1972.

Yep. A nod to the history of the institution - like, you know - like what an alma mater is.

 

[Source]

They killed THIS version five years ago? Did you read the lyrics? THIS version has been dead for a long, long time, although I would like to know when it was replaced by the version we know (before they tampered with it for no reason).

Howard Fuller, himself, wrote the original in 1873 and re-wrote it around 1914. The 1914 version is what everyone's calling "original" in this thread. The first alterations started sometime after Rutgers went co-ed in 1972. I believe "On the Banks of the Old Raritan, my boys" became "On the Banks of the Old Raritan, my friends.

The long version has been revised over time. Rutgers-Camden sings “On the Banks of the Old Delaware” while Rutgers-Newark says “On the slopes of the Academic Hill.” Both schools use different lyrics and there is even a statewide University version.

 

[beaced]

On December 11, 1873 a Glee Club member, Edward E. Colburn, went to the home of student Howard N. Fuller, Class of 1874, living at 41 Schureman Street in New Brunswick about 3:00 pm and requested a song for an exhibition in Flatbush that evening (the Glee Club wouldn't have its first official event until the spring semester in Metuchen). It took Fuller two hours to write the seven stanza lyrics set to the music of “On the Banks of the Old Dundee.” The line “since the time of the flood” does not refer to any particular storm but may have been a reference to the Biblical flood.

Howard Fuller returned just before WWI to re-write the alma mater into a more embracing song for Rutgers as a whole. In 1913, he reminisced, “… in those days Rutgers had a name as a singing college and “On the Banks…” was held by impartial judges to be the best song that any college or university, east or west, possessed..."

The Original "On the Banks of the Old Raritan"
(adapted from the song “On the Banks of the Old Dundee)
Lyrics: Howard Fuller, Class of 1874 written December 11, 1873
Organist: John Opier, Class of 1874
As published for the first time in the 1875 February Targum:

My father sent me to Old Rutgers,
And vowed that I should be a man;
Thus I settled down,
In that noisy College town,
On the banks of the Old Raritan.

Chorus:

On the Banks of the Old Raritan, my boys,
Where Old Rutgers evermore shall stand;
For has she not stood
Since the time of the flood*,
On the Banks of the Old Raritan.
[*In 1873 “flood” rhymed with the word “stood”]

As Fresh, they used me rather roughly,
But I the fearful gauntlet ran,
And they shook me so about
That they turned me inside out,
On the Banks of the Old Raritan.

I passed through all these tortures nobly,
And then, as Soph, my turn began,
And I hazed the poor Fresh so
That they longed for Heaven, I know,
On the banks of the Old Raritan.

And soon I made my social entrée
When I laid fun many a wicked plan
By which my cunning art
Slew many a maiden’s heart,
On the banks of the Old Raritan.

Then sing aloud to Alma Mater,
And keep the Scarlet in the van*, [*in the vanguard or forefront]
For with her motto high
Rutgers’ name shall never die
On the banks of the old Raritan.

Hazed? Tortured? Not very PC. That's why I LOVE it!

 

[RutgersMO]

I'm glad "flood" rhymed with stood.

MO [smoke]

 

[Source]

My friend and I always sing "flood" as it once rhymed with "stood." It started as a joke between us and it turns out we were doing it correctly all along.:grimace: