Following on from 'Music Entering Assembly' did your school(s) have an official school song or anthem ?
At Keighley Boys G.S we had Quilters 'Non Nobis Domine', and I know other schools have used this also.
But there must be a good few different ones I think.

My primary school had a song called "Much in little" - the school motto was "multum in parvo". Surprisingly I can still remember the words....

At school we grow in many ways although we’re rather small,
We always must remember the oak tree, strong and tall
We know it is so mighty, of this we all agree,
But think back to its beginning before it was a tree

Much in little, much in little,
This is the way we grow.
Much in little, much in little
There’s so much we need to know.

The acorn hid its greatness of beauty, strength and grace,
And so we hope in time to come that we will take our place
For life’s a great adventure for learning how to care
About the world around us that everyone can share.


My middle school used one of the songs out of the "come and praise" assembly books which was called "light up the fire" (which incidentally I always thought was a bit odd, you know, encouraging arsonists.....). The internet tells me it is now called "colours of day"

Colours of day dawn into the mind,
The sun has come up, the night is behind.
Go down in the city, into the street,
And let's give the message to the people we meet

So light up the fire and let the flame burn,
Open the door, let Jesus return,
Take seeds of His Spirit, let the fruit grow,
Tell the people of Jesus, let His love show.

Go through the park, on into the town;
The sun still shines on, it never goes down.
The light of the world is risen again;
The people of darkness are needing a friend.

Open your eyes, look into the sky,
The darkness has come, the sun came to die,
The evening draws on, the sun disappears,
But Jesus is living, His Spirit is near.

We didn't really have assembly at high school so as far as I know there wasn't a school song.

My secondary school also had Non Nobis Domine as it's assembly song. Twenty plus years later, I can still sing it

I still remember one of mine.. the teacher would sing (typically on school trips and the like) and we'd repeat

Everwhere we go, (everwhere we go)
People stop and ask us, (people stop and ask us)
Who we are, (who we are)
And where we come from, (and where we come from)
So we tell them, (so we tell them)
We come from [school town], (we come from [school town],)
Rainy, rainy [school town], (rainy, rainy [school town])

(repeat, going up in pitch each time)...

We had to sing that at Prize Giving when I was a lad. I wondered why we sang a song without knowing what the words meant! It was years later that I realised that every other line was a translation of the previous line of Latin!



It sounds like you were on a route march Sol!

The school where I have been working for the past 20+ years originally had a different name and when, a couple of years ago, we celebrated its anniversary, the original School Song was resurrected for a performance. I had never known it though, yet considered writing one for the present establishment. I couldn't decide whether it was worth my time trying to write one for present day or one to take the mickey of the whole genre. I'm still wondering.

Hah, you made me think of "I wanna be your drill instructor" then

Our very own unique composition ... "Propositi Tenax"

Hackneyed, fake patriotic, bombastic, melodramatic doggerel ...

... but when we had our 25 year class re-union I was pressed into playing it on the old (and still lovely) Bechstein in the assembly hall as everyone gathered around and sang it with gusto.

Ours is Shine, Jesus Shine

After nearly five years, I still honestly don't know if I love it or hate it

"...The cobbled streets and gabled roofs of Kingston now are gone
And Saxon glories are but ghosts raised faintly by a stone
And ever Father Thames flows on past bridge and wharf and quay
And over all a red stone tower stands square for all to see.

So we’ll sing of the school with good voice and strong
May her friends still be many, her life full and long
And while ‘neath her shade and then on through the years
Let “Sapere aude” ever ring in our ears."

I hated that school but I still remember "Sapere aude" - indoctrination, or what?

PatC

My school was quite posh and had its own song, the words and music of which had been written - I think - by past teachers. Just before I left school, I had the forethought to ask for a copy of the music and I'm so glad I did. I can't really play piano, but just that first chord of the introduction is so distinctive and evocative. It takes me right back.

We never had a school song, but that was one of the favourites of the teachers for assemblies. I think because it was fairly easy to play.

We sang that at Brownies and Guides

I never went to a school that was posh enough to have a song or anthem or anything (don't think any of them even had a motto), but my college had a college song which I would gladly never hear again. As a chorister I couldn't get out of singing it at the time, although I will admit I went through the motions of singing it rather than singing it properly.

"Unto thee, oh lord, do we-eee give thanks....(strangled top F)......
unto thee-ee-ee do we give thaaaaanks....(even more strangled top F#, why??)
(lower rumble...thy name also i-is so nigh)
....and tha-at do thy won-drous wo-orks deeeeclare
(louder) thy wooooooorks deeeeeeclaaaaaare

the lot is fallen u-unto me
in a fa-air ground
yea, I have a goodly he-e-e-ri-i-taaaage
a goo-oo-oooooodly heeeriiiiiitaaaaage

and a whole lot more utter drivel in the same vein, it was the most vacuous lot of dung I ever had the misfortune to attempt to sing. No doubt my singing entirely did it justice .....

We did that except that we would add another two lines on the end....

And if they don't hear us (if they don't hear us)
We sing a little louder (sing a little louder)

With a crank up of the decibels at each iteration....

Our school song was a version of this oath - traditionally sworn by young men of ancient Athens - which may seem slightly odd as it was a girls' school ...

The Ephebic Oath was an oath sworn by young men of ancient Athens upon induction into the Ephebic College, graduation from which was required to attain status as citizens.


We will never bring disgrace on this our City by any act of dishonesty or cowardice, nor ever desert our suffering comrades in the ranks.
We will fight for the ideals and Sacred Things of the City both alone and with many.
We will revere and obey the City's laws, and will do our best to incite a like reverence and respect in those around us who are prone to annul them or set them at naught.
We will strive increasingly to quicken the public's sense of civic duty.
Thus in all these ways we will transmit this City, not only, not less, but greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.

It had been set to music in (I think) the 1930s by a music teacher at the school , and I never forget the last line, in a slightly different translation,
'no- ot only (PLONK) not less, but to a great extent better etc

Some of us ( ) used to get the giggles at the bit about suffering comrades.

We had 'For All the Saints' - at every school mass! I liked it to start off with, but after 7 years....

We didn't have a school song, but each year at Founders' Day (big event with parents, school governors etc. there, in the local theatre, with a formal speaker, presentation of awards etc.) there was a different song sung by the whole school. One year it was the Quilter Non Nobis Domine, another year it was the Agincourt Song (Our King went forth to Normandy - very rousing!). At assembly at the beginning of every term we sang the hymn Lord behold us with thy blessing, and at the last assembly of term Lord dismiss us with thy blessing (cue handkerchieves for any reluctant leavers!).

We did however have a school promise, which was recited once a week in assembly by the whole school (all girls). That has definitely stayed with me:

I am only one, but I am one.
I cannot do much, but I can do something.
What I can do, that I ought to do, and
What I ought to do, that by God's help I will do.

Even without the religious reference it's a powerful idea.

We had our own school song 'Summa sequendo' based on our school motto. At Founders day we always sang this and always ended the occasion with a version of the 'Irish Blessing'. I believe the music for our school song was composed by a former pupil and I remember thinking I could have written something far more exciting myself!

We used JUST the Come and Praise books at primary school, and I still remember a lot of the songs from them. My favourite was The Springs Up in the Mountains (not sure if that's what it's actually called).

I just like the tune, I still remember all the lines. My favourite verse was the last one:

As the sun lights up the morning and another day is found
It's a gift to all that's living that the world still spins around
And the night is still the day but seen the other way around
As the sun rises on this one world.

I just loved the third line of that verse, I still do, but I have no idea why!

We used to sing one called Autumn Days, which I loved too.

Typing this I've suddenly realised how saccharine most of our hymns were... I guess I just have sickly tastes.



We did that one too! Except the second line was "people wanna know" to rhyme, and we had to sing "lovely, lovely [school town]".

We didn't have an official school song though.

you mean "autumn days when the grass is jewelled and the silk inside a chestnut shell. Jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled, all these things I love so well. So I musn't forget, no I mustn't forget, to say a great big thankyou I mustn't forget"

I used to like that one too. I liked quite a few out of the come and praise book actually......now, which can I remember.......

Sing, Hosannah ("give me oil in my lamp keep me burning......")
One more step ("along the world I go")
Who put the colours in the rainbow ("who put the salt into the sea")
Lord of all hopefulness ("Lord of all joy")
Think of a world without any flowers (“think of a world without any trees”)
Mary had a baby (“Yes Lord”)
When I needed a neighbour (“were you there, were you there”)
Tha-a-a-a-nk you Lord (“for this new day”)
Shalom (“my friend”)

I'm tempted to see if I can find the come and praise sheet music somewhere.......

We didn't have a school song or, if we did, I've shut out the memory, which could be worrying

We have our own school song, composed by sixth formers ages ago. It doesn't rhyme, the tune is never repeated and it is basically just a random jumble of notes with some very strange words that don't really fit with the tune, but we all know it and it has been sung all around the world!

You can get it on amazon. I got the lyrics book aaaages ago for nostalgia's sake.
But we never sang give me oil in my lamp. It was "Give me batteries in my torch keep me shining, give me batteries in my torch I pray, give me batteries in my torch keep me shining, keep me shining til the break of day... Ever-ready, ever-ready... etc".

I didn't ever sing Shalom or Mary had a baby, but my friend (at a nearby village school) sang them both.

Did you sing We shall go out with joy?

"We shall go out with joy and be led forth in peace
And the mountains and the fields shall break forth before us
There'll be shouts of joy and the trees and the fields
Shall clap, shall clap their hands.
And the trees and the fields shall clap their hands (clap, clap)
And the trees and the fields shall clap their hands (clap, clap)
And the trees and the fields shall clap their hands (clap, clap)
And you'll go out with joy"

We had to sing it over and over again faster and faster each time - while all the teachers ignored people repeatedly asking how trees and fields could clap hands they didn't have.

Fun times.

I think we did have a school hymn but I can't remember which one it was - it must have come from the then current edition of Songs of Praise.

But I remember fondly "Non nobis Domine "and Mendelsson's "I waited for the Lord" at prize giving.
Another greqt favourite with bets on whether or not the school would come in at the right moment was 1 2 3 4 5 7 God is love, His the care.

I like your "oil in my lamp" lyrics better than the original we never sang We shall go out with joy. I shall look it up when I purchase the music.

My problem with the Mary had a baby song was the last line of every verse, "People keep a-comin' an' the train done gone. " What on earth does that mean?

Ha ha! That reminds me of Ding Dong, Merrily: "Glo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oria! Hosanna in excelsis. Glo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oria! Hosanna in excelsis. [ 1, 2 ! ] E'en so here below below...." Such was the shame of coming in 2 beats too early that most people actually used to whisper 1, 2 at that point. There was always a temptation to come in a couple of bars early for each verse of "At the name of Jesus" as well, although nobody used to whisper during that one. I came in early once and have never forgotten the shame of my unexpected (not very good) solo - all 2 notes of it.

We do (in theory) have a school song, but i have no idea what it is. We have an unofficial school song though, which we sing in assembly sometimes (in four-part round), and on trips, and at the end of term etc. It has nothing whatsoever to do with a girls' grammar school:
Old Bill Jones lived in hatchet bay
He walked in the most peculiar way
He had a wooden leg, a little wooden peg
And as he walked all the people would say:
Tramp *clap* Tramp *clap*
Listen to Bill
Tramp *clap* Tramp *clap*
Over the hill
You can hear him going
Tramp *clap* Tramp *clap*
With his little wooden leg! *clap clap*
but

Ahh, memories...

We had this too!

I assume (and hope) that very few pupils from this school went on to be engineers....

... and certainly not today!

I promise that those are the lyrics

http://www.nrac.co.uk/directory/autumn-days-lyrics/

Given the large number of schools that used the "come and praise" hymn books, I think that we should worry about all UK engineers....

I'm afraid I'm guilty of perpetuating the Come and Praise mentality in my school.. .

Bagpuss and I had a wonderful school song - Pro Ecclesia Dei - which was very stirring...and Founders' Day had At the Name of Jesus and the wonderful Jesus, Glorious Prince of Angels...all three of these bring back SUCH strong memories.

*feels wistful*