Origins: Show me the Scotchman

Subject: RE: Origins: Show me the Scotchman
From: masato sakurai
Date: 12 Jun 03 - 02:01 AM

Yale Songbook has the song, which is titled "Where the Elm-Tree Grows."

~Masato

Subject: RE: Origins: Show me the Scotchman
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Jun 03 - 01:46 AM

Hi - I see you've already done a Google Search. I tried doesn't love the thistle (click) and got a number of results.
PSIU is the most interesting.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Origins: Show me the Scotchman
From: LadyJean
Date: 12 Jun 03 - 12:38 AM

Try your college's alumni secretary. Chances are she knows someone who knows the song.
My mother was alumnae secretary at Chatham College in the late 40s and early 50s. She must have known almost every college song ever sung. Sadly she is no more. But I'll bet your alumnae secretary can help you.

Subject: Origins: Show me the Scotchman
From: GUEST,Laurie
Date: 11 Jun 03 - 12:46 PM

I am trying to research the history of our school song, titled "The Scotchman." It is not original to us. Through a Google search, I learned that many other universities, fraternities, and other entities here in the U.S. have their own versions, all dating to ca. 1900-1920. The consensus of the people I've contacted is that it may have originated from a folk tune or drinking song from the U.K. I have made some inquiries in the U.K., but so far they haven't found anything definite.

The lyrics to our version are as follows:

Show me the Scotchman who doesn't love the thistle;
Show me the Englishman who doesn't love the rose.
Show me the truehearted son of Old Wesleyan,
Who doesn't love the spot where the tumbleweed grows.

Other versions use "Scotsman" instead of "Scotchman"; "Irishman" instead of "Englishman"; and adapt the last two lines to fit the particulars of their institution or entity. Other titles include "Show me the Scotchman," "Fight On," "Where the Elm-Tree Grows," "Show me a Scotsman," and "True Heart." Our version is fairly solemn - sung through once and then hummed for the second round. Other versions - particularly the school fight songs - are more rousing and have accompanying gestures.

Can you give me any help in identifying the original song from which ours is derived? Or can you recommend other sources to contact? Any help you can give will be much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Laurie Langland
University Archivist
Dakota Wesleyan University
Mitchell, South Dakota
[e-mail]