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Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Boating Song

19 Nov 98 - 07:04 AM (#46088)
Subject: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: jane.minns@industrial.panasonic.co.uk

Does anyone have the lyrics and music to the "Eton Rowing Boat Song"?


19 Nov 98 - 03:29 PM (#46150)
Subject: ADD: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Pete M

Hi Jane,

Words follow:

Jolly boating weather,
And a hay harvest breeze,
Blade on the feather,
Shade off the trees;
Swing, swing together,
With your bodies between your knees.

Rugby may be more clever,
Harrow may make more row:
But we'll row forever,
Steady from stroke to bow,
And nothing in life shall sever
The chain that is round us now.

Others will fill our places,
Dressed in the old light blue;
We'll recollect our races,
We'll to the flag be true;
And youth will be still in our faces
When we cheer for an Eton crew.

Twenty years hence this weather
May tempt us from office stools:
We may be slow on the feather,
And seem to the boys old fools:
But we'll still swing together,
And swear by the best of schools.

If you go here you can hear it sung by the college choir. Note that the lyrics given on that page differ in two places to those sung, and which are given above.

Pete M


19 Nov 98 - 09:06 PM (#46204)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Greg Baker

Of course, Kipling's poem about pack artillery can be sung to this tune:

For we all love the screw-guns! The screw-guns, they love you! So when we come round with a few guns, this is the thing you should do! Just call in your Chief and surrender - it's worse if you fights or you runs, You can do what you please - you can skin up the trees - but you can't get away from the guns!


19 Nov 98 - 11:22 PM (#46217)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Alan of Australia

G'day,
The words must have changed since 1955 when I learned it. My memory can't possibly be at fault:-

Jolly boating weather,
Braced by a cooling breeze,
Blades of a feather,
Great days are these
We'll swing together,
With our bodies between our knees.

Cheers,
Alan


22 Nov 98 - 02:23 PM (#46470)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Pete M

Wouldn't know Alan, my school song was "Forty years on", but blades on the feather makes more sense than of a feather.

Pete M


23 Nov 98 - 05:34 AM (#46556)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Jane

Pete, Thanks everso for the words and pointer to a web site where I can transcribe the music for myself. The song is definately out of print, I've a friend who thinks they might have it buried in the attic in an old Victorian book.... so you've saved me a lot of time! Jane.


23 Nov 98 - 05:38 AM (#46557)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Jane

Greg, Kipling's poem about pack artillery?!! Its amazing what you learn on this site! I thought I might be lucky enough to just get the normal words, so your alternatives are another bonus for my Recital audience. Thank you! Jane.


23 Nov 98 - 05:40 AM (#46558)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Jane

Alan,

Many thanks for your efforts, after more than 40 years I'm sure I couldn't remember as many words as you!

Jane.


24 Nov 98 - 03:03 AM (#46622)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Murray on Saltspring

I heard once that the original full-bodied (so to speak) words were "with your bellies between your knees". Can anyone corroborate?


01 Sep 01 - 12:35 AM (#539472)
Subject: ADD: Eton Boating Song
From: Joe Offer

This song is usually known as the "ETON BOATING SONG," often spelled "Eaton Boating Song." Sheet music is here (click) at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music.
-Joe Offer-


01 Sep 01 - 04:16 AM (#539517)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Cappuccino

I'm very impressed that everyone has been too polite to refer to the alternative version, in which verses end with the couplet:

We'll all swing together, Our bollocks between our knees We'll all swing together, And do as we ****ing well please!

Mudcat is evidently a site of more delicate sensibilities than I had appreciated...

- IanB


01 Sep 01 - 04:23 AM (#539519)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Joe Offer

Ian, I'm upset. How can you say such a thing? I posted those lyrics just today - and we've had many other versions of the same song.
Click here
...and forever hold your peace [grin]
-Joe Offer-


01 Sep 01 - 09:51 AM (#539608)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Liz the Squeak

There's also the one about the sexual life of the camel, which I am FAR too polite to post.....

LTS


01 Sep 01 - 12:47 PM (#539688)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Joe Offer

The Sexual Life of the Camel is the song we're talking about, Liz...


01 Sep 01 - 01:47 PM (#539707)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Keith A of Hertford

Surely the only spelling is Eton as that is the name of the school, and village?
The Kippling poem is called Screw Guns and is a good chorus song
My favourite verse is
A wheel on the horns of the morning,
A wheel on the edge of the pit,
A drop into nothing beneath you,
As far as a bugger can spit,
And the sweat running out of your shirt sleeves,
The sun off the snow in your face,
And half of the lads on the drag ropes,
To keep the old gun in her place.

Stand easy my long eared old darlings
Keith.


01 Sep 01 - 02:11 PM (#539720)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Sourdough

I am not clear about this, is the Kipling poem sung to this melody or is it just that it fits?

Sourdough


01 Sep 01 - 02:28 PM (#539729)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Keith A of Hertford

Kippling never presented his poems as songs, but his Barrack Room Ballads seem to be composed around tunes. His wife wrote of him "singing a new poem" His poem Screw Gun Mules is definitely a parody of The Lincolnshire Poacher. Pete Bellamy put many to music, often using folk tunes, but not this one.
Not an answer though. Sorry sourdough.


01 Sep 01 - 03:17 PM (#539756)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Sourdough

Part the First:

I did know that Kipling never put his own poems to music but I know some of his poems are sung to others melodies. In college, we sang a version of Gentleman Rankers. The melody was wirtten around 1910 and is still in use. I was wondering if Screw Gun Mules had a similar history, perhaps being sung in the artillery.

The guy who wrote the music that Gentrleman Rankers was mildly modified and then attached to was at Amherst College. I went to a junior high school not far from Amherst. On the grounds of the school, on a hillside, there was a small cabin called the Kipling cabin. Very plain it was. My understanding was that Kipling actually stayed there at some point. I have no idea for how long but it was before the school was built but it occurs to me now for the first time that there may be firsthand connection between Kipling and the melody writer. I will write to the school and see if they know anything about this.

Part the Two:

I had no idea what a screw gun is so I looked it up. For those who share my curiousity, here is what I found on New Zealand Permanent Force Old Comrades Association website:

"The gun made 'famous' by Kipling's poem The Screw Gun was the RML (rifled muzzle-loading) 2.5-in (63.5 mm) jointed mountain gun which fired a 7-lb (3.17 kg) shell. For easy portability the piece was made in two parts which screwed together, hence the name. It was adopted by the Royal Artillery in 1879, and continued in service throughout the South African War. It was not adopted by the New Zealand Forces. The gun performed satisfactorily according to 19th century standards, but there was nothing remarkable about it.

"Kipling may have made the gun 'famous' to readers of his poem, but it was far from popular with the unfortunate Gunners who manned it in South Africa. Although cordite had been introduced in 1891 cartridges for the screw gun were still filled with gunpowder which produced clouds of white smoke making concealment from views impossible. Since open sights were the only means of laying provided, the layer had to be able to see his target, so cover from fire was also virtually impossible to achieve. Thus Boer riflemen made excellent practice on gun positions."

So - from Aunt Rhody to Rousseau to Kipling and the Boer War. I like this thread!

Sourdough


01 Sep 01 - 03:37 PM (#539770)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Joe Offer

I don't know why, Keith, but "Eaton" seems to be a more common spelling for proper names in the U.S. and Canada - so we might be likely to spell the school's name that way, too. Most of the time, the extraneous vowels are on your side of the ocean - but "Eaton/Eton" is one exception to that rule. A Google search will bring up the Eton Boating Song under either spelling (but more commonly under "Eton"). When I post things that I want people to find in searches, I sometimes include common misspellings as alternates.
-Joe Offer-


01 Sep 01 - 03:50 PM (#539781)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: toadfrog

Kieth, I will bow to your superior scholarship, but don't see how the piece is a parody of LINCOLNSHIRE POACHER. (Although they both could be sung to the same tune, like THE THING and CHANDLER'S WIFE.)

But a parody, you expect to have similar words. I think Kipling's poem starts something like:

Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the morning cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters, along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners behind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick o' the Army that handles the dear little pets - 'Tss! 'Tss!

For you all love the screw guns, the screw guns they all love you!
So when we call around with a few guns, o' course you will know what to do - hoo! hoo!
Just send in your Chief and surrender - its worse if you fights or you runs;
You can go where you please, you can skid up the trees, but you don't get away from the guns.


Now I'm not arguing, I'm just curious. A parody with a chorus would seem to be a parody of another song that also has a chorus. Is there another version of Lincolnshire Poacher with a chorus? Or with words that run parallel to Screw Guns? Or is there a parallel that I have missed?


01 Sep 01 - 04:30 PM (#539802)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Keith A of Hertford

Screw Gun Mules is a different poem. I mentioned it to support the view that he had tunes in mind for his poems. It starts like this

As me and my companions were scrambling up a hill,
The path was lost in rolling stones but we went forward still,
For we can wriggle and climb my lads and turn up everywhere,
And it's our delight on a mountain height with a leg or two to spare.
Keith


01 Sep 01 - 06:57 PM (#539872)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Cappuccino

Liz and Joe, I think I have a claim to the Sexual Life of the Camel which is probably unique. In a rock band in the 70s, we managed to set the entire poem to a funk rhythm.

That's 'funk', thank you. Very Average White Band-ish.

- Ian B


02 Sep 01 - 10:47 AM (#540177)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Liz the Squeak

Funk rhythmn eh? And what did you do for the hedgehog??

LTS


02 Sep 01 - 02:52 PM (#540314)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: toadfrog

Kieth: Your patience and help is appreciated. I should have read your first message more closely.


02 Sep 01 - 03:01 PM (#540321)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Snuffy

Eton College (not Eaton) is one of England's premier Public Schools (i.e. private). It was founded by King Henry VI (reigned 1421-1461). Eton lies beside the River Thames opposite Windsor where the monarchs have resided for centuries.

Wassail! V


03 Sep 01 - 10:45 AM (#540741)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: CET

From Charmion, actually.

And Eaton is the name of Canada's second-oldest department store chain -- the one that went so spectacularly bankrupt recently and was revived as a zombie of itself some months later.

>Vulgarity alert on<

"Screw Guns" is indeed sung to the "Eton Boating Song" tune in the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, where it can also be obscenely parodized -- for example:

Sitting on top of a mountain
Playing with my diddle-doo,
Jerking off into my trousers
'Cause I've got fuck-all else to do;
Life as a Herbie* is thrilling
Whether at peace or at war,
And if God and the BC* are willing
I'll find out what my penis is for.

'Cause we're all fucking screwed up
Screwed up as we can be;
Life in the fucking Artillery
Is not what it's cracked up to be.
So if you're in need of employment,
And the money and pension's for you,
Stay out of the fucking Artillery,
Or you'll wear out your poor diddle-doo.

This particular parody was composed in the fall of 1975 by Bombardier Colin Niles Bailey and Gunner David Bulloch of the 3rd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, while enduring an exercise at Dundern, Saskatchewan, an army training area of stunning bleakness.


03 Sep 01 - 10:57 AM (#540748)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: GUEST,Keith A of H at work

And what were you playing with on this exercise?


03 Sep 01 - 11:26 AM (#540762)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: CET

Still from Charmion:

I have never had the privilege of visiting beautiful downtown Dundern, Saskatchewan, centre of romance and intrigue, fortune and fame; I learned that "Screw-Guns" parody from my brother, who served in the same air-defence battery as Bdr Bailey and Gnr Bulloch. I imagine that, on this exercise, they were playing with -- yes, this is its real name -- the Blowpipe anti-aircraft missile.


03 Sep 01 - 01:33 PM (#540834)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Keith A of Hertford

Great bit of kit! It had to be fired from a full standing position without cover, and could only engage oncoming aircraft. It was deployed in the Falklands and scored not one hit. A Screw Gun might have done better.
Keith.


03 Sep 01 - 02:39 PM (#540885)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Keith A of Hertford

Returning to Eton, The Duke of Wellington said that the battle of Waterloo was won on its playing fields.
Swing, swing together,
Keith


03 Sep 01 - 05:39 PM (#541005)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Liz the Squeak

Ah, but the Iron Duke also was one of the first to acknowledge the part played by 'the scum of the earth' meaning the PBI, enlisted and pressed. If it weren't for them, he would never have GOT to Waterloo.

LTS


03 Sep 01 - 06:50 PM (#541056)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Keith A of Hertford

As he said, "I don't know what effect they have on the enemy, but by God they frighten me!"
Fall in lads behind the drum,
Keith.


03 Sep 01 - 07:27 PM (#541087)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: GUEST,Pete M at work

Interesting article about the true home of the screw guns and mountain batteries under the heading "Raising day celebrated" here

Pete M


28 Jun 02 - 10:56 PM (#739227)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: GUEST,Rob M

I've come in late, but can anyone help me locate a version of the Eton Boat Song. I've tried the link Pete M posted way back in Nov 1998 but to no avail. Cheers


01 Jul 02 - 06:14 PM (#740318)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Noreen

What exactly do you want, Rob? The words are above.


19 Jul 02 - 01:42 AM (#750895)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: GUEST,Rob

An Mp3 or other sound file of the song if poss.


19 Jul 02 - 03:37 AM (#750911)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Nigel Parsons

Guest,Rob: If you can work from the stave notation, it is linked in Joe's post, (The 10th in this thread). This takes you to the cover of the sheet music in the Levy collection, and at the bottom of the page is a "clicky" to take you to pages 1 & 2

Nigel


26 Jul 02 - 11:42 PM (#755298)
Subject: RE: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: GUEST,Rob M

Thanks for the reply Nigel. I have in the interim, however, been able to locate, listen and purchase a copy of the Boat song directly from Eton College at www.etoncollege.com/eton.asp?di=1359


08 Jan 04 - 12:08 AM (#1088469)
Subject: Lyr Add: ETON BOATING SONG (American adaptation)
From: Jim Dixon

Transcribed from the sheet music images at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:

ETON BOATING SONG
"Words adapted for the use of American Colleges, by J. C. Macy," 1890.

1. Jolly boating weather, and a hay harvest breeze,
Blade on the "feather," shade off the trees,
Swing, swing together, with your backs between your knees.
Swing, swing together, with your backs between your knees.

2. Skirting past the rushes, ruffling o'er the weeds,
Where the lock-stream gushes, where the wild duck feeds,
Let us see how the wine-glass blushes at supper beyond the meads.
Let us see how the wine-glass blushes at supper beyond the meads.

3. Some may be more clever, others can make more row,
But we'll row forever steady from stroke to bow,
And nothing in life shall sever the chain that is round us now,
And nothing in life shall sever the chain that is round us now.

4. Twenty years hence, this weather may tempt us from office stools.
We may be slow to "feather," and seem to the boys "old fools,"
But we'll still swing together and swear by "the best of schools,"
But we'll still swing together and swear by "the best of schools."

5. Others will fill our places, dressed in the well-known hue.
We'll recollect our races. We'll to the flag be true,
And youth will be still in our faces when we cheer for the old-time crew,
And youth will be still in our faces when we cheer for the old-time crew.


08 Jan 04 - 06:50 PM (#1089034)
Subject: Lyr Add: SCREW-GUNS
From: Gareth

Hmmm ! A little late, but here is the text of :-

SCREW-GUNS
Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin' cool,
I walks in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule,
With seventy gunners be'ind me, an' never a beggar forgets
It's only the pick of the Army that handles the dear little pets -- 'Tss! 'Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns -- the screw-guns they all love you!
    So when we call round with a few guns, o' course you will know what to do -- hoo! hoo!
    Jest send in your Chief an' surrender -- it's worse if you fights or you runs:
    You can go where you please, you can skid up the trees, but you don't get away from the guns!

They sends us along where the roads are, but mostly we goes where they ain't:
We'd climb up the side of a sign-board an' trust to the stick o' the paint:
We've chivied the Naga an' Looshai, we've give the Afreedeeman fits,
For we fancies ourselves at two thousand, we guns that are built in two bits -- 'Tss! 'Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns . . .

If a man doesn't work, why, we drills 'im an' teaches 'im 'ow to behave;
If a beggar can't march, why, we kills 'im an' rattles 'im into 'is grave.
You've got to stand up to our business an' spring without snatchin' or fuss.
D'you say that you sweat with the field-guns? By God, you must lather with us -- 'Tss! 'Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns . . .

The eagles is screamin' around us, the river's a-moanin' below,
We're clear o' the pine an' the oak-scrub, we're out on the rocks an' the snow,
An' the wind is as thin as a whip-lash what carries away to the plains
The rattle an' stamp o' the lead-mules -- the jinglety-jink o' the chains -- 'Tss! 'Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns . . .

There's a wheel on the Horns o' the Mornin', an' a wheel on the edge o' the Pit,
An' a drop into nothin' beneath you as straight as a beggar can spit:
With the sweat runnin' out o' your shirt-sleeves, an' the sun off the snow in your face,
An' 'arf o' the men on the drag-ropes to hold the old gun in 'er place -- 'Tss! 'Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns . . .

Smokin' my pipe on the mountings, sniffin' the mornin' cool,
I climbs in my old brown gaiters along o' my old brown mule.
The monkey can say what our road was -- the wild-goat 'e knows where we passed.
Stand easy, you long-eared old darlin's! Out drag-ropes! With shrapnel! Hold fast -- 'Tss! 'Tss!
    For you all love the screw-guns -- the screw-guns they all love you!
    So when we take tea with a few guns, o' course you will know what to do -- hoo! hoo!
    Jest send in your Chief an' surrender -- it's worse if you fights or you runs:
    You may hide in the caves, they'll be only your graves, but you can't get away from the guns!

Gareth


08 Jan 04 - 07:27 PM (#1089059)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: The Fooles Troupe

Blade on the "feather" - so it won't dig in to the water.


06 May 05 - 05:50 AM (#1479251)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: GUEST,Banksie

..but of course the best version is the one sung by the fans on the terraces at Coventry City Football Club:

Let's All Sing Together,
Play Up Sky Blues.
While we sing together,
We will never lose.
Tottenham or Chelsea,
United or anyone.
They can't defeat us;
We'll fight 'til the game is won.


06 May 05 - 06:21 AM (#1479255)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Rowing Boat Song
From: Leadfingers

Blade on the feather is Turned Horizontal to the water to reduce wind resistance , and IF the blade should touch the surface it will skim over the surface and not 'dig in' and so slow the boat.


07 Dec 05 - 03:57 PM (#1622154)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Boating Song
From: GUEST,Charmion's brother Andrew

The assembled Mudcatters will, I hope, excuse me for replying to an ancient thread, but 'twas I who taught the Bailey-Bulloch Screw Guns parody to Charmion.

Une précision: the battery was not yet equipped with Blowpipe, we were still had both the 105 mm C1 howitzer and the 40 mm Bofors on a powered twin Oerlikon mount, IOW a "golf bag" battery -- "What iron should I use for this shot, caddy?" The desolate location was "Dundurn" and we were there firing in support of the 2 PPCLI unit battle school in the autumn of 1975.

My favourite parody of the EBS runs:

A team of researcher at Oxford, named Carter and Prentiss and Hall,
Has shown that the lowly hedgehog has never been buggered at all.
But another team working at Cambridge, has incontrovertably shown
That freedom from bugg'ry at Oxford is enjoyed by the hedgehog alone.

ABC


07 Dec 05 - 04:07 PM (#1622163)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Boating Song
From: Keith A of Hertford


07 Dec 05 - 04:34 PM (#1622169)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Boating Song
From: Keith A of Hertford

Thanks for finally clearing that up Andrew.
I can stop holding my breath now.
Pity the posts are all jumbled now.
Keith


07 Dec 05 - 10:01 PM (#1622392)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Boating Song
From: GUEST,Charmion's brother Andrew

I do believe I hear something... yes, it's a note... a note of sarcasm. ;^)

ABC


08 Dec 05 - 03:35 AM (#1622516)
Subject: Lyr. Add: Boating Song (Eton) 2
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Pete M. made an unforgivable mistake when he posted the Eton Boating Song way back in Nineteen and Ninety-eight at the head of this thread.
Verse three, ist line should be:
Harrow may be more clever,
Rugby may make more row, etc.

Clever Harrow always precedes Rugby, according to an old Harrow man here. He pointed the Carmina version out to me.
Reference- Academy Song Book, No, 50, 1895.
The tune seems to be very close to the old melody, "The School of Jolly Boys."

Lyr. Add: BOATING SONG (Eton) 2
(Older version?)

1. Jolly boating weather,
And a hay harvest breeze;
Blade on the feather,
Shade off the trees.

Chorus:
Swing, swing together
With your body between your knees;
Swing, swing together,
With your body between your knees.

2. Skirting past the rushes,
Buffling o'er the weeds,
Where the lockstream gushes,
Where the cygnet feeds.

Chorus:
Let us see how the wine glass flushes,
At supper on Peveney meads;
Let us see how the wine glass flushes,
At supper on Peveney meads.

3. Thanks to the bounteous sitter,
Who sat not at all on his seat;
Down with the beer that's bitter,
Up with the wine that's sweet.

Chorus:
And oh, that some generous critter,
Would give us more ducks to eat.
(repeat chorus)

4. Carving with elbow nudges,
Lobsters we throw behind;
Vinegar, nobody grudges,
Lower boys drink it blind.

Chorus:
Sober as so many judges,
We'll give you a bit of our mind.
(repeat chorus)

Others will fill our places,
Dressed in the old light blue;
We'll recollect our races,
We'll to the flag be true.

Chorus:
And youth will be still in our faces
When we cheer for an Eton crew.
(repeat chorus)

Twenty years hence this weather
May tempt us from office stools:
We may be slow on the feather,
And seem to the boys old fools.

Chorus:
Bu we'll still swing together,
And swear by the best of schools.
(repeat chorus)

M. Taylor Pyne, Ed. Comm., 1894, "Carmina Princetonia, the University Songbook," Eighth Edition, Martin R, Dennis & Co., p. 50, with music.

Anyone familiar with "The School of Jolly Boys"?


30 Mar 06 - 02:12 PM (#1706828)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Boating Song
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Didn't see this posted-

Lyrics: 1862, by William Johnson, a Master at Eton. Eight stanzas.
Music: 1863, by Algernon Drummond, a former student.
www.etoncollege.com/eton.asp?di=1359
Eton

Current abbreviated lyrics by William Cory and music at the website.

From verse 5 on, above, the English original lyrics may be:

5.
"Dreadnought" "Britannia" "Thetis",
"St. George" "Prince of Wales" and "Ten",
And the eight poor souls whose meat is,
Hard streak, and a harder hen,
But the end of our long boat fleet is,
Defiance to Westminster men.
(repeat last two lines)

6.
Rugby may be more clever,
Harrow may make more row,
But we'll row forever,
Steady from stroke to bow,
And nothing in life shall sever,
The chain that is round us now,
And nothing in life shall sever,
The chain that is round us now.

7.
Others will fill our places,
Dressed in the old light blue,
We'll recollect our races,
We'll to the flag be true,
And youth will be still in our faces,
When we cheer for an Eton crew,
And youth will be still in our faces,
When we cheer for an Eton crew.

Twenty years hence this weather,
May tempt us from office stools,
We may be slow on the feather,
And seem to the boys old fools,
But we'll still swing together,
And swear by the best of schools,
But we'll still swing together,
And swear by the best of schools.

Don't know if these are the original Wm. Johnson lyrics.

http://www.answers.com/topic/eton-boating-song

Still looking for the lyrics and music to "The School of Jolly Boys."


31 Mar 06 - 01:21 AM (#1707266)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Boating Song
From: alanabit

Am I the only one, who when he hears the Eton Boating song thinks, "Ah, that's the tune to "The Sexual Life of the Camel!" "?


31 Mar 06 - 06:30 AM (#1707394)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Boating Song
From: Leadfingers

Alan - It came to my mind that the definition of an intellectual is someone who , on hearing the William tell Overture , DOESNT think about the Lone Ranger! Perhaps the same applies to Eton Boating Song ?


11 Feb 08 - 05:22 PM (#2259829)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Boating Song
From: GUEST,Jersey Wonder

Does it count if you think about Tonto?


12 Feb 08 - 03:59 PM (#2260736)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: Eton Boating Song
From: Rog Peek

Featured in the film "North West Frontier" (1959) starring Kenneth More and Lauren Bacall.

Rog