History
The chorus was originally written in 1891 as part of a longer Gaelic warcry, by three Gaelic-speaking students: Donald Cameron, F.A. McRae, and another called MacLean, whose first name is not known. The rest of the song was written in 1898 by a student, Alfred Lavell, with the title and The Queen's College Colours after a disappointing loss to the University of Toronto in order to inspire the team. Currently, however, the second, third and fourth verses are rarely sung. In 1985 the original "Boys, go in and win" was changed to "Gaels, go in and win" to make the text gender neutral.
The song is often heard sung by students and alumni when the home team scores a point, goal, touchdown, etc. and at other school events. It is usually sung while forming a chain by linking arms behind each other's backs and performing a low-kicking can-can. The 1892 version uses the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic/John Brown's Body.
Additional stanzas that have fallen out of popular use made reference to historic victories over Yale University, rival McGill University, and the University of Toronto.
Read more about this topic: Oil Thigh
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)
“The history of work has been, in part, the history of the worker’s body. Production depended on what the body could accomplish with strength and skill. Techniques that improve output have been driven by a general desire to decrease the pain of labor as well as by employers’ intentions to escape dependency upon that knowledge which only the sentient laboring body could provide.”
—Shoshana Zuboff (b. 1951)
“The reverence for the Scriptures is an element of civilization, for thus has the history of the world been preserved, and is preserved.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)