Football games and the ACU Fight Song
JEREMY ENLOW
Homecoming musicals
Our music knows few bounds. Some of our favs: Oh, Dear Christian College The words to ACU’s school song were penned by educator/innovator Dr. G.C. Morlan and music department chair Dr. Leonard Burford (’25) arranged the music in 1934:
Highways and Byways Dr. Steven Moore, associate professor of language and literature, regularly leads one of our students’ favorite energetic gospel songs on special Praise Day Chapel programs in Moody.
Oh, dear Christian College, we love you, Our dear Alma Mater, today; Like the stars shining brightly above you, Your fame shall shine brightly for aye. To you we’ll prove faithful and loyal While ever upholding the right, And gladly we’ll give forth the royal Three cheers for the purple and white.
ACU Fight Song Most think the only lyrics for the ACU Fight Song arrive midway through this toe-tapper introduced sometime in the 1940s: “W-i-l-d-ca-t-s, purple, white, purple, white, fight, fight, fight!” But not so. Here’s the full version, which freshmen are taught during Wildcat Week:
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The Big Purple then immediately launches into a rendition of Let’s Win This Game. All in all, the ACU Fight Song musical suite sounds great after a touchdown, and that’s about all that really matters, isn’t it?
PAUL WHITE
Wildcats! Hold that line! Hold that line! Wildcats! Now’s the time! Now’s the time! Strive on! Drive on! We must make a score For ACU, as we have before.
PAUL WHITE
Shape and Round Notes
Dr. Steven Moore
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name The well-known hymn, All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, has been sung at every Opening Assembly since ACU began in 1906 as Childers Classical Institute.
Chorus Then we’ll pledge our love to Christian, To her is honor due; While we gaily sing let praises ring For our Alma Mater true.
The singing of Oh, Dear Christian College is a tradition at graduation.
PAUL WHITE
The Lord Bless You and Keep You If TLBYAKY was to arm-wrestle Oh, Dear Christian College for the most-sung piece of a cappella music on campus, most of us know which would win. TLBYAKY leads all comers in emotional impact. If you don’t mist up by the fifth “Amen” at the end, you might not have a heart. It’s powerful stuff. And no one sings it better.
For more than 100 years, people in singing schools and Churches of Christ – congregations in which ACU has deep roots – used “shape notes” to learn how to vocalize in harmony. The “Aiken system” of music notation was based on each of seven shapes. Today, all instrumental and most vocal music appears in round notes, but many churches have older members who prefer the shape-note system they learned early in life. Regardless of their faith heritage, many ACU students arrive with an amazing ability to sing, fostered by growing up in churches where four-part harmony is highly valued.
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do ACU TODAY
Winter-Spring 2017
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