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July 4, 2006

Georgia Alma Mater influenced by German National Anthem?

So I was watching Italy vs. German World Cup on Tuesday. I was sitting there waiting for my favorite part which is the pre-game national anthem for both teams as their fans go nuts singing along.

The German home team's national anthem is "Das Deutschlandlied," (or is it called "Das Lied der Deutschen"?) and it occurs to me that it sounds very similar to our own alma mater. You be the judge. It's most noticable in the big finish.

German National Anthem
UGA Alma Mater

Am I crazy?

pwd

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

not crazy, but the better question is how did you know what the GA Alma Mater sounded like? I've never heard of it.

Unknown said...

they play the UGA Alma Mater before every home game!

I'm one of those guys that actually sings along when they play it. They play it right before or right after they play the national anthem.

Hell, I almost know it by heart.

Georgia Hail To Thee!

PWD

Anonymous said...

actually, just about every school uses the same tune...the words just change. I graduated from Mercer and the tune was the same....as were the ones of graduations I attended at North Georgia, Piedmont College and UAB.

Unknown said...

i know Auburn's sounds really similar, but given that they ripped off Glory, Glory and the Hedges. I just assumed that was par for the course.

pwd

Anonymous said...

"Deutchland Uber Alles"...can't help but love that song..but for some reason every time I hear it I picture a bunch of men and women in 'thirties clothing...They are standing around the tables at an outdoor cafe,arms outstretched in salute,and tears streaming down their faces as they sing.News has just came that Warsaw has fallen,and at a nearby table a group of Americans refuse to stand up....After the German waiter intentionally spills gravy on a ladies dress,Robert Mitchum berates him harshly to th....wait a minute...that is from "The Winds Of War",not my imagination!...sorry

Anonymous said...

The Red & Black, Athens, Georgia, September 29, 1998:

Q: I love the University's alma mater, but I don't know anything about it. Who wrote it?

Michael Ruppersburg, a freshman from Athens

A: According to the University, the lyrics to the alma mater were written by J[ames] B[ones] Wright Jr., class of 1912. The third verse was written by Gail Carter Dendy, class of 1974. The song is sung to the tune of "Annie Lisle" by H. S. Thompson.

* * *

From Wikipedia ...

Annie Lisle is the name of an 1857 ballad by Boston, Massachusetts songwriter H. S. Thompson and published by Oliver Ditson & Co.

It is about the death of a young maiden, by what some have speculated to be tuberculosis, although the lyric does not explicitly mention TB (or consumption, as it was known by at the time). The song might have slipped into obscurity had the tune not been adopted by countless colleges, universities, and high schools worldwide as their respective alma mater songs.

The first college to have used the tune in a spirit song seems to have been Cornell University. In 1870, students Archibald Weeks and Wilmot Smith wrote "Far Above Cayuga's Waters" and used an adaptation of Thompson's melody.

Many other colleges, almost certainly influenced by Cornell's version, have since created their own renditions. They include:

* Acadia University
* American University of Beirut
* College of William & Mary, James Southall Wilson
* Davis College
* Indiana University, J. T. Giles, 1893
* Lehigh University
* Lewis & Clark College
* Moravian College, J. Kenneth Pfohl, 1900
* Roanoke Bible College, Sarah P. Bondurant, 1948
* Syracuse University, Junius W. Stevens, 1893
* Tennessee Wesleyan College
* University of Alabama, Helen Vickers, 1908
* University of Georgia, J.B. Wright, Jr.
* University of Kansas, George Penny, 1891
* University of Missouri, G.A. Wauchope, 1895
* University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, William Starr Myers, 1897
* University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
* Vanderbilt University, Robert F. Vaughn, 1907
* Xavier University of Louisiana

Anonymous said...

Never thought about it, but it does sound a little similar. Heard it this weekend when Schumacher won the F1 race, as I do just about every year. I tend to think of Deutchland uber Alles more in terms of some church hymn that good Lutherans sing on a yearly basis, though I can't remember which one.

Anonymous said...

I'm much more familiar with "Deutchland uber alles.." having heard it played at all the high school games I coached in Germany (U.S. games)..UGA's is the same old "alma mater" I've heard since high school down in Washington County (Tennille)...the German one does give you a feeling of Panzer divisions and Stuka divebombers, tho'...Alma Mater just feels comfortable!

Unknown said...

Joe Fleming - major props for that info. THANKS!

pwd

Anonymous said...

Anonymous - I'm also from Tennille. Who are you? Funny we should be reading the same site. And I agree with your assessment of the WACO AM. They all sound the same to me.

 
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