Crafton
High School
Faithful and true-hearted, Let us boost for Crafton High
We revere her and defend her, may her
colors proudly fly
We will stand for her united, Of her deeds we proudly tell
Her colors streaming, glad faces beaming
So
here's a cheer for her, for her we love so well
(Chorus)
Joyous
and ever loyal, let us boost for Crafton High,
Let every heart sing, let every voice ring,
There's no time to grieve
or sigh
It's ever onward, our course pursuing,
May defeat ne'er our ardor cool,
But united we will boost for her,
Our Crafton
High
Verse
2
Honors she has taken, In forensics, track, and song,
May she always rank the highest, may her colors ne'er
be wrong
There's no other that can match her, when her team is on the field,
Her boys the fleetest, her girls the sweetest,
So
here's a cheer for her, for her who ne'er will yield
The words are just a wee bit outdated. I'd rather say "timeless." Words like "Ne'er", and using "her" 16
times are not modern affectations. It suggests, "May defeat ne'er our ardor cool." What the heck is ardor anyway?
Heaven forbid that we would have cool ardor! Don't you love the line "her boys the fleetest, her girls the
sweetest?"
You just don't hear words written like that, in today's songs. The lyrics hearken back to the 1920's when
many public high schools got their start. Many school mascots were developed in those days as well. Sportswriters
who used incredibly flowery language to describe the action of the most mundane football game, tagged teams with nicknames
and some of them stuck.
Some guess now that this was probably widely published, with "Our Old High School" as the standard lyric, changed to
"Our Crafton High". And all this time we thought it was just ours!
An Internet search shows that at least ten other schools, around the country, have the same words to their songs. They
are Grand Rapids, Minnesota; Jackson, Texas; Oregon; Wisconsin; Summersville, Ohio; Bellaire, Ohio; William Chrisman
High in Kansas City; Meade, Kansas; Freeman, S.D. High School; Dunn High School in Dunn, N.C, and of course, our own Crafton High School.
The midi version of our Alma Mater, that you can hear while on this page, was
created by former Dunn High School Band Director
Ernie Black, '58 to '66, and Henry Slocumb, DHS '60. Thanks to Mary Lemuel Blalock, DHS '62, for letting us know about
it. It's amazing what the Internet can do for communications.
School spirit today just isn't what it once was in most schools. Today we only seem to cheer for a team or group who
is doing well. Some people call that "jumping on the bandwagon." But the essence of school spirit really is to
support a team or a group, through thick or thin, win or lose -- simply because they are from "my school."
It's all about identity -- who we are. In this day and age, that's what people are searching for -- a sense of identity
and meaning. Considering that, it's ironic that schools emphasize their songs less than they used to. We need a sense
of identity today more than ever before.
Sometimes a band will play a snappy tune that passes for a fight song. But if there aren't any words to go with it,
it dies as soon as the last note fades. A school song is a reflection of loyalty. It's a hook you can hang your school
spirit on. When you have a school song with words that are memorized, you can sing it mowing the lawn, on the tractor,
or washing the dishes.
That instant accessibility cements loyalty to an institution or an ideal in a way nothing else can. It bridges generations
between young and old and is some of the glue that holds a community together.
Our
Alma Mater is thus representative of our community. Honor and respect it. Loyalty is one of the
finest virtues of Humanity.
So, stand up and sing your old school song!
It's ever onward, our course pursuing
May defeat ne'er our ardor cool,
But united we will boost
for her,
Our Crafton High
