And Send The Backs Around The End

TigerBlog's roommate his senior year in West Philadelphia was a guy named Charlie, who subsequently went into the paper clip business and today runs several companies in Jacksonville. One day nearly three decades ago, a song came on the radio (or perhaps even a record was put on the turntable - which, for those of you who've never seen one, is what old people used to listen to music on). TigerBlog can't remember if it was "Hey Jude" by the Beatles or "Jersey Girl" by Bruce Springsteen.

What TB does remember is that when the part came on where it goes "la, la, la, la-la-la-la" (followed either by "hey, Jude" or "I'm in love with a Jersey girl," Charlie said "I like this song; the words are easy to remember."

There is something to be said for simplicity in lyrics, something that seemed to be missing in the late 1800s and early 1900s when old gentlemen of Princeton sat down to compose school songs.

"Turn every heart and every voice, bid every care withdraw. Let all with one accord rejoice, in praise of Old Nassau." That's pretty deep stuff. Ol' H.P. Peck of the Class of 1862 knew how to write.

TigerBlog was asked to send some information to the people who will be running the men's lacrosse Final Four in Foxboro (or is it Foxborough?) later this month. It was a standard request sent to probably 20 schools, asking for player head shots, the school logo and, most interestingly, an MP3 of the school fight song.

Which leads to the question: What is the Princeton fight song?

You have three basic contenders. One is "Old Nassau," which is the school alma mater and H.P.'s work. This isn't quite a fight song.

Then there's "Going Back to Nassau Hall," which is, to TigerBlog's knowledge, the only Princeton tradition that actually mentions the fact that the school is in New Jersey. It's a little peppier than "Old Nassau," though it's also not quite a fight song.

The one that TigerBlog sent is "The Princeton Cannon Song," for two reasons. First, this is an actual fight song. It conjures up memories of Palmer Stadium and touchdowns and Princetonians cheering and all that good stuff.

The interesting part of the last two of these songs, the latest of which dates back to 1906, is that they both mention football specifically. Football hadn't turned 40 yet by 1906, yet it so obviously consumed the University and its image, as well as the images of schools like Princeton. It's left TigerBlog to ask all kinds of questions: How did they distribute tickets? Did they have event meetings? How'd they do their marketing? Did people just show up?

Anyway, the Princeton Cannon Song is on its way to Foxboro, hopefully to be followed by the men's lacrosse team. The second reason TigerBlog chose this one?

He already had an mp3 of it, of course.