OONI

By MARGARET FRENCH

or 1 .0

SONG Boot

TAoIEZ

UNIVERSITY BOYS GLEE CLUB-1900

Cf1 III Z

T---I

14

SOONER MAGAZINE

Fans attending sporting events atthe University of Oklahoma this sea-son might have been startled by thestrains of a "new" spirit song emanat-ing from the band . While soundingstrangely like "Boomer Sooner," acloser listen confirms that this is notthe classic Big Red fight song.Although OU's various bands only

recently have reintroduced "Fight forOKU," the surprising truth is that themusicians could select a different OUsong for just about every one of OU'shome basketball and football gameswithout ever repeating . As it turnsout, there exist not merely one or twoOU fight songs, but more than twodozen, counting "yells," those crowdcheers so popular in OU's earlier days .

"Fight for OKU" was written byformer OU band director LeonardHaug, expressly as an alternative tothe popular "Boomer Sooner,"the tuneborrowed from Yale University's fightsong, "Boola-Boola," with which it hasbeen regularly confused .Haug remembers clearly an inci-

dent at the 1939 Orange Bowl thatspurred the creation of new Soonersongs, both his own and others . Duringthe pre-game parade, Ted Husing, theCBS radio announcer covering thegame, was listening to the OU andTennessee bands serenade eachother."He said, `Why is that band playing

"Boola Boola?" ' " Haug remembers .He and the OU group tried to explainto Husing the Sooner adaptation . Sev-eral years later, Haug wrote "Fight ForOKU," to satisfy, he says, "Oklahomafans clamoring for a song they couldcall their own."

Haug's tune supplanted "BoomerSooner" until he retired as band direc-tor in 1962, but the standard soon re-claimed its place at the top .Over the years, several composers

and frustrated pretenders have gotteninto the act of immortalizing the U ofO in song . Even a state governor, RoyJ . Turner, tried his hand with "Okla-homa, An Anthem." An anonymousauthor contributed "Fight, Fight,

h

Sooners Fight," and a similarly mod-est composer drafted the yell, "Okla-homa Locomotive."The locomotive yell enjoyed a prom-

inent role in Sooner history, as thechant-which mocked alocomotive en-gine chugging up a railroad track-be-came a fixture at Sooner pep ralliesin the 1920s and '30s. That particularspirit device was taken very seriously,complete with a "yellmaster." Leavingnothing to chance, instructions forstaging a yell properly were distrib-uted at sporting events .There were many yells, of course,

but the most popular seem to havebeen the "Locomotive," "OklahomaFights," "Hit'em High," and "Hi Rick-ety," one version of which went some-thing like this :

Hi-Rickety-Whoop-te-doBoomer-Sooner-Okla-UHi-Rickety-Whoop-te-doBoomer-Sooner-Okla-U

Of course, each verse had to be re-peated "twice slow" and then "twicefast," the directions admonished . Un-fortunately, the yell, minus the yell-master, loses some effectiveness inprint ."Boomer Sooner Oklahoma," an

anonymous contribution, was sung tothe tune of "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp,The Boys Are Marching ." It was em-ployed at least as early as 1896 andstill was popular when Haug came onboard in 1938 . Another composer, inan apparent attempt to attractmaximum attention, ended the exhor-tation "Fight, Fight, Sooners Fight"with avery racy, "Zip! Bang! Sooners!"Perhaps the fight song that has en-

joyed the most fame - other than"Boomer Sooner" and, of course, thevenerable "OU Chant" (discussed onPage 17) - is "O.K . Oklahoma." Writ-ten by orchestra and choral conductorFred Waring, the song still erupts atthe point-after-touchdowns at footballgames and is used as a crowdmotivatorduringbasketball timeouts."Oklahoma, A Toast," once known

erroneously as "Oklahoma University

Song," also celebrated scoring oppor-tunities, as did Turner's "Oklahoma,An Anthem." A different salute, "AToast to Oklahoma," was written byOU graduate Caro Bond McDonald .Alumnus Joe W. Hicks submitted"Cheer Oklahoma," and fellow SoonerR.W. Hippen wrote "OklahomaDrive." A Nebraska graduate then liv-ing in Oklahoma City, Gayle V Grubb- or "Benedict Arnold Grubb," as heonce said he was known in Lincoln -claims one version of "Hail to Okla-homa."Other clever offerings poured in .

Sheet music to "O-O-Oklahoma" in-structed the musicians to follow a"tom-tom rhythm," while "On! Soon-ers!" and "Go! Oklahoma!" both re-quired a marching beat . All were sen-tenced to relative obscurity, however,in the company of such would-be col-lege hits as "Sons of Georgetown,""We'll Whoop 'er Up for Princeton,"" 'Bama, You're Wonderful" and"Lehigh Echoes ."Some tunes have been altered down

through the years . For instance,"Boomer Sooner," A.L . Hirsch's 1919composition, has changed in bothrhythm and lyric, according to JamesFaulconer, OU professor of musictheory."Even the meter was played differ-

ently, with what is now the traditionalpickup of `Boomer Sooner' being per-formed on the beat," Faulconer says,adding that an extra "Rah, Rah!"necessitated a slower performance ofthe song .

"And," Faulconer laughs, "in placeof `OKU,' as we end it, they used `Oh,by gum!'" The present version, he be-lieves, evolved sometime during the1930s and 1940s .Faulconer's interest in the old

Sooner songs eventually inspired anaudio tape featuring several of them .Already hard at work on an OU Cen-tennial film score, Faulconer discov-ered a cache of Sooner songs . WithSteve Curtis, associate professor ofmusic education, he conducted OU

401989 SPRING

15

music students in "glee club" style toproduce "OU Spirit Songs of the Last100 Years," a cassette which was mar-keted last fall ."The tape achieved what I had

wanted to do anyway," Faulconernotes . "It is important that this musicis still being carried on, because it isan integral part of our heritage."The professor chose to weave

Turner's "Oklahoma, An Anthem"into the Centennial film's theme, he

Iff

7

1 6

SOONER MAGAZINE

Louise B . Adams, wife of the OU business dean, borroweda Welsh airand added her own lyrics for "Oklahoma Hail!,"a predecessor of"OU Chant" as the University's alma mater.

z 1-0

says, "because it is just beautiful ."Borrowing another school's song and

writing different lyrics was not at allunusual in those early days, Faulconersays ; many songs in addition to"Boomer Sooner" were born in justthat manner. "Oklahoma U." wasadapted from an old Harvard song,while "Oklahoma First," another ap-propriated college song, begins with aclaim that "Oklahoma gets therefirst," and the lyrics somehow answer

the question of how the whale "didswallow Jonah up!"Then there was "Fight on, Okla-

homa," sung to the tune of "In OleOklahoma," by pop vocalist PinkyTomlin . Tomlin's song actually drewsomesupport as a possible state song.Haug's lyrics to "Hail to Okla-

homa!" were set to a melody writtenby Louis Spohr, a contemporary ofMozart. Haug, who had first heard theglee club standard while attendingtheUniversity of Wisconsin, adaptedlyrics for OU and used it throughouthis tenure as band director.

"It was typical of the glee club typesongs popular then," Haug says . "Ithad a certain flavor ofthose songs, likethe ones fraternities sang . They hadpretty good glee clubs.""Oklahoma Hail!" was based on a

Welsh air with lyrics by Louise B .Adams, wife of business dean ArthurB . Adams, for whom the business ad-ministration building is named .Adams' song predated the "OU Chant"as the more stately, reverent "almamater."Whatever the reasons, interest in

OU music always has been high . Noneof the songs ever was commissioned ;each was presented as a free-will offer-ing . The subject even has lent itself toscholarly study as the topic of one on-going dissertation on the history oftheOU bands, while another researchedthe influence of OU bands on the his-tory ofmusic education in Oklahoma .Why some songs last and othersfade

remains a mystery. But to manySooner bandsmen, as important aswho wins the game is what tune thecrowd walks away humming .

Copies of "OU Spirit Songs of theLast 100 Years" are available from theOU School of Music, 560 ParringtonOval, Norman, OK 73019 . Make checkspayable to the OU Foundation for$8.95plus $1.50 for postage and handling.All proceeds go toward instructionalequipment for the school.

" . . . Beautiful byDay and Night .

Every Sooner fan knows "BoomerSooner" by heart . After all, the wordsaren't difficult. But those same folksare not so familiar with the lyrics toOU's "other" song, which, by the way,is actually a chant. When the crowdjoins in the "OU Chant" before eachhome football game, the words areflashed across the scoreboard chieflyout of necessity.

O-K-L-A-H-O-M-AOur chant rolls on and on!Thousands strongJoin heart and songIn Alma Mater's praise -Ofcampus beautiful by dayand night,

Ofcolors proudly gleaming Redand White,

1Veath a western skyOU's chant will never die .Live on, University.

Written by a Sooner alumna morethan half a century ago as a commonbond for all OU graduates, the "OUChant" has stood the test of time . Itsauthor, Jessie Lone Clarkson Gilkey,wrote the words and music as an ex-pression of her own deep feelings ofloyalty for her alma mater.Now a Colorado resident, Gilkey

earned a bachelor's degree in fine artsfrom OU in 1927 and returned nearly10 years later to join the faculty afterteaching at Southwestern State Col-lege at Weatherford . In those days,singing was in vogue and school spiritsky-high .

Enthusiastic members of OU'sWomen's Choral Club petitioned herto pen a school song for them - not afight song-but "one thatwould makethem starry-eyed," she remembers ofthe request . In the wee hours of a cer-tain crisp, fall night, she obligedthem .The evening had been one ofmusical

fete, ripe with the carefree happinessthat was a trademark ofthat era. Pon-tiac's "Big Broadcast," a highly popu-lar radio program, was originatingfrom Holmberg Hall . Members of thedance and varsity bands hadjoined the

Rufneks, Jazz Hounds, Ladies' Quar-tette, Sooner Ladies' Trio and otherstudents for the celebration . After thehour-long show, the revelers relocatedoff campus to the Monterey.

" . . . The Mont, they call it now,"notes Gilkey, in Norman last fall for areunion with her Chi Omega sororitysisters . "We were there until all hours,just singing and eating . Then I wenthome, sat down half asleep at thepiano and scratched the words down .Not in a minute, but just leisurely sit-ting there."

Straight from a Norman Rockwellor Currier and Ives canvas, the nighthad set the stage . Gilkey, who wasnamed outstanding faculty womanduring her two-year tenure at OU, had

Jessie Lone Clarkson at OU, 1937-39 .

no trouble expressing her feelings ofpride in and love for the University inthat quiet time .

Continued

Jessie Lone Clarkson directs the Women's Choral Club,forwhom she wrote "OUChant."

The airing of"ThePontiac BigBroadcast"fromHolmbergHall was a major event .

1988 SPRING

17

The resultingsong captured the feel-ing of exuberance pervading the OUcampus . More importantly, the lyricsdefined Gilkey's personal vision ofwhat it meant to be a Sooner, to whichmany Sooners since could relate .The words, she recalls, "made me

feel like I was just standing out therelooking into the night . Icanrememberwe came out of Holmberg Hall, andthere were the maple trees, and thecoloring on the campus, beautiful byday and night . . . "

However, after she had shared thetune with her circle of friends, thechantwas forgotten until the followingautumn when alumni secretary TedBeaird needed a spirit song for anOklahoma City radio station . Gilkeyoffered her composition, which Beaird

The 1937-38 Sooner Ladies Quartette (fro

lftVerandRuth mene; and Martha Ruth Jarrell ofNorman, Mary

)A,it.nita E3rowner

one ofrowner

'several

HookerOklahorna; the Davis bysisOU choral grou sP directed

~' zs ol'SeznirzoleElnorarected

Jessie L

Clonearkson .

18 SOONER MAGAZINE

readily predicted would be "all overthe state by tomorrow."The chant indeed caught on and has

been interwoven in OU history eversince. Gilkey, who never received anypayment for the song, considers it agift from her heart .

"I had it copyrighted and gave it toOU; that was the only thing I coulddo for OU," she says modestly. Beforethen, however, Gilkey had granted or-chestra and choral conductor Fredblar-ing permission over the telephone toperform the chant on his weekly radioshow.The diminutive Gilkey has not ex-

perienced many opportunities to hearher composition performed throughthe years . And, as luck would have it,the very first time she heard the chantin Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, a

mixup seated her with the opponentsfrom Southern Methodist University."They all stood up, and I said, `That's

my song . . .' "Gilkey quickly recovered and

applauded with the good-hearted visit-ing Mustangs and later laughed offher uncanny knack of being in thewrong place at the wrong time .

Recently, however, she savored asimilar performance, complete with abonus as guest conductor at a Pride ofOklahoma marching band rehearsalbefore a football game . Gilkey's chantstirred her own feelings of nostalgiaas she perched high atop the band di-rector's ladder.

"I still getgoosebumps," she giggles ."Especially when they asked me toconduct it . It was thrilling to see theexpression on the young people'sfaces ."