The School Songs

Here are some of the several school songs here at DePauw University. 

Most DePauw students will ask, "Several songs?"  Why yes, there are at least six songs.  The 1925 book, Songs of DePauw, created by Phi Mu Alpha, Sinfonia contains the several that appear here.  Additionally, a book entitled Songs of America's Colleges and Universities: A Collection lists one more DePauw tune we've never heard of.  No sources include Go Tigers Go! , which was written in the mid-1990s.  The fight song, the alma mater, and Go Tigers Go! are the only songs used today.

For your listening pleasure, Here's to DePauw (fight song), and A Toast to DePauw (alma mater), were masterfully recorded under the baton of Dr. Craig Paré by the DePauw University Band on their first CD, Timepieces .  (Every second year, the University Band embarks on a new journey on it's CD Recording Project!)

To learn about the songs, be sure to scroll down past the words to read a little about each tune.

Here's to DePauw (March on Down the Field) - Fight Song

On the tune "Down the Line," band arrangement by Cloutier, choir arrangement by Roy D. Wells

You'll hear Here's to DePauw after every score at a Tiger Football game.  The song runs a little on the long side, so in Tiger Basketball games, we tend to only use it at the end of periods.  We also have a short fanfare based on the fight song to use for short musical interjections.

In normal performance, the pep band only plays through the song as printed here.  This recording repeats the second two stanzas, which is how it is marked in the score.

When DePauw entered the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in the 1990s, two other schools also called the tiger their mascot.  (Of course, we're the only normal-colored tigers -- the others are purple and maroon!)  Thus, we occasionally replace the cheer with, " D-E-P-A-U-W, D-E-P-A-U-W Tigers! " to keep the other team from adopting our cheer.

As the Tiger Pep Band performs for women's basketball and volleyball in addition to men's basketball and football, the current lyrics were created by Tiger Pep Band members to provide a fight song more applicable to all teams.  These lyrics were adopted officially by the University in 2004.

A Toast to DePauw - Alma Mater

words/music by Vivien Bard, arrangement by Jerry Owen

To Old DePauw we toast today,
And raise our voices high
We'll honor thee and loyal be
And praise thee to the sky.

Let ev'ry son and daughter stand
United e'er for thee,
And hail Old Gold throughout the land
Here's to you, Old DePauw.

Our Alma Mater carries a tradition that has been lost on more recent students.  Watch a group of alumni sometime as the song concludes, you'll see them each raise a "glasses" in toast to DePauw.  You'll see the pep band conductors join in it -- and we encourage all students to do the same.

Strangely, the school has sometimes edited this symbolic motion from admissions videos.  We treat it as a tradition -- and one worth saving.  A pantomimed toast is harmless, and it continues the Tiger Spirit between students and alumni.

At the conclusion of any DePauw contest, the Tiger Pep Band performs one pass of A Toast to DePauw.  The recording includes an empty pass followed by a standard introduction and the two sung verses shown above.  On a historic note, it has been said that the second verse was edited at some point to make it gender-equitable, although we have not been able to find concrete evidence of this.

There is some disagreement on what contribution Vivien Bard, an alumnae, made to the song.  She is credited in some locations as the music composer, and by other sources as the author of the lyrics.  The arrangement heard here was arranged by Jerry Owen.

Like the Fight Song, there is a fanfare based on the Toast which we occasionally use.

Go Tigers Go! - Spirit Song

Jason R. Dibler '97

...
...
...
Go Tigers, Go!

(repeat as desired!)

Well, okay.  The words to Go Tigers Go! don't describe much: it's really a short repeating 10-second melody punctuated by a shout of, "GO TIGERS GO!"  This piece is handy for the count down to 0:00 before games start, as it can be tailored to fit any length of time on the fly.

Go Tigers Go! is credited as written by Director Emeritus Jason "Dibbs" "The Colonel" Dibler '97.  It's taken several years, but the is starting to catch on with the crowd.

Old Gold 

Esther Bundy, lyrics by Sarah Jane Terry

Here's to our college and to old gold.
May we allegiance forever hold,
O Alma Mater we love thee.
To you we pledge our loyalty,
And as the years pass our hearts will yearn.
When back to you our mem'ries turn,
We'll hear again that glad refrain:
Rah Rah Rah
Rah Rah Rah
Rah Rah DePauw.

This song has passed into antiquity around here.  We only know of it's existence from the 1993 re-publication of Songs of DePauw , a 1925 booklet edited by the Lambda Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha, Sinfonia.  (Phi Mu Alpha, Sinfonia is a music fraternity which still exists, although it is no longer present on DePauw's campus.)

No punctuation appeared in the booklet; it has been added here to give a sense of the flow of the song.

Tiger Yell Song 

Jimmy Bittles

Sons of old DePauw lift high your voices,
The glory of Old Gold shout to the sky.
Lift her royal banner to the breezes,
Her enemies defy.
Keep her sacred name forever stainless,
Her tame from West to Eastern shores proclaim.
Shout for her and cheer her on to vict'ry,
And join in this refrain:

refrain:
We will shout for our dear Old Gold boys,
And will yell for Old DePauw.
Never taunted, Never daunted!
We will root for D. P. U., rah, rah, rah!
Loyal to our old school boys,
'Till we die we'll praise her name.
In vict'ry or defeat,
We'll never dare retreat,
But fight for her the same.

Like Old Gold , this song has disappeared from use.  It appears in the same Songs of DePauw booklet.  As above, no punctuation appeared in the original booklet.