Chris' Songs - Hail, Lady Bears!

Here's the RARB review for this track on the Greenleafs album _Out On a Limb_.

Well, during college and shortly after, I noticed that many of the men's a cappella groups, especially out east at schools like Yale, had their own song, a group song that they could sing every year and invite alumni to sing with them. My group (the Pikers) had no such song. I wanted to write one (it became The Pike), but before I did, I wanted to make sure I could (I was used to writing love songs, not traditional sounding songs).

So, I decided to write a song for the Pikers that they could use that had a traditional sound, but was also funny. Then I got the idea to write a song about something at Wash U, and decided to write it about the women's volleyball team. The volleyball team at WU has been winning the Division III National Championship as long as anyone can remember (6 years in a row now, I think, and something like 8 of their last 9). At the time, they were pretty much the only WU sports team that wasn't a joke. I wanted the song to be very tongue in cheek but also sincere sounding, like a good Tom Lehrer song.

Hail, Lady Bears!

We may not have the biggest or the swiftest football stars

That one may find across our great country (got them for free)

Ok, so the football team was an obvious target. While the team now is doing really well, at that time they consistently had a losing record, even against other Div 3 teams. And, of course, being a Div 3 team, we weren't going to have the best players in the country because Division 3 means no sports scholarships (got them for free).

Our golf team has been sliced

The WU golf team was dissolved while I was a student there.

And cross-country barely saved

The CC team was dissolved, then was re-organized and brought back.

At our Washington University (in St. Louie).

Yes, that's a ridiculously long name I'm making fun of.

And while most of us just sit at home and watch Star Trek instead,

There is one team that has raised our school spirit from the dead...

Yeah, lotsa Trekkies at Wash U (myself included). And I get to put in another play on words: school spirit, and raising spirits from the dead. The volleyball team really did bring school spirit to Wash U, something we really lacked. School spirit at Wash U is pretty much pathetic (well, it IS Division 3...), but every year at the volleyball championships, the place would rock.

Hail, Lady Bears of Wash U Volleyball

Hands raised in battle and heads held tall

Bump, set, spike, all other teams will fall

How can you do a song about volleyball without "bump, set, spike"?

All hail the women who have answered the call.

Without these mighty warriors, we'd never understand

That our Athletic Complex was not built for Airband

Wash U has (had?) a yearly event called Airband, where people would lip synch, air guitar, and dance their way through a song. It was a big competition, had qualifying rounds and a final. The different teams were often various fraternities and soroties or just groups of friends. At any rate, they had this competition in the Athletic Complex at WU, and it would always pack the place, which was unusual, because WU sports teams would never pack it (except volleyball). Therefore, without the volleyball team, most WU students might think that the Athletic Complex was built for Airband.

And though entire departments just seem to disappear

There's one thing we can count on every year...

While I was at WU, they seemed to be cutting departments here and there, like Sociology and Dance. The students didn't like it, but they weren't able to raise enough of a stink to prevent it. They would usually have a meager march about 6 months after the fact.

Hail Lady Bears of Wash U Volleyball

(lolly dolly) hands raised in battle

And heads held tall (six foot, seven foot)

Bump, (up)set (them), spike (their shins)

All other teams will fall (on their Speedos)

All hail the women who have answered the call

(All rise and) Hail Lady Bears of Wash U Volleyball!

And now I get to put in other words that make the chorus a little funnier. On their Speedos?-- volleyball players wear bottoms that are similiar to Speedo swimsuits; I'm not sure why.

Well, when I gave it to the Pikers to sing, they said something like "Gee, thanks. We'll try to get to it if we have time." They weren't real big on the song, and basically mothballed it. The following year, I told them to decide if they were going to do it or not; they couldn't say. So, I pitched it to the Greenleafs, the women's group at Wash U. While I don't think the song works as well with women singing it (there was something cool about a men's group singing praises for a women's sports team that just doesn't come through when a women's group sings it), it went over well when they performed it, so I was glad it got a home rather than being permanently mothballed.

-Chris Tess

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chris@rarb.org