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, 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. That song became "Hail, Lady Bears!".
With that under my belt, I brought up the idea at a Jammin' Toast weekend luncheon with the alumni and some of the then-current Pikers. Everyone liked the idea, and I got the go-ahead nod from the Pikers. I explained to them that what I wanted to do was to write something that was both timeless and prestegious, and was not dated by the current music styles.
So, I began thinking about what exactly to write ABOUT. I didn't want it to be "Hey, hey, we're the Monkees", but I wanted it to have something to do with the group. I wanted it to be something that sounded nostalgic.
One of the questions I've often gotten about the Pikers is where the group got it's name. The funny thing is that most of the guys who have sung in the Pikers don't know what the name means, and most who do don't know the whole story. In fact, I've yet to learn who actually thought that that should be the name of the group, but I'm betting it was Kisker. (For a short history of the group's beginnings, check out this Wash U archives page.
It is not really clear what exactly the group's name is referring to. Most of the guys who have been Pikers think that the group was named that because "Pikers" was what the sports teams were called before the University adopted the Bear mascot (more about that here). But actually the name Pikers came from the Pike, the amusement area at the 1904 World's Fair, which took place in Forest Park. The Pike stretched about a mile and was many times wider than a normal city street. It had so many sights and sounds that the world had never before seen. Those who walked the Pike in '04 were called "Pikers", and the newsletter that came out about things to see on the Pike was called "The Piker". Later, it seems that the Wash U students were called "Pikers" by the residents who lived near Wash U. Somehow this then became the unofficial mascot of Wash U.
So what became of the Pike? Well, it was suggested that the Pike be left in place as an amusement area in St. Louis. This idea was nixed by the Washington University administration, who felt that such an area so close to the campus would distract their young students' minds from serious study. The Pike was therefore dismantled after the fair, and now there is a neighborhood there (along the north side of Forest Park).
After I read all about the Fair and the Pike at the Missouri Historical Society, I began writing. I wanted to write mostly about the Pike itself, with a little tie-in at the end to the singing group.
The Pike
So, I arranged the song for four part men, and put a quartet together to sing through it. We did, worked out a few kinks in the arrangement, and it sounded pretty good. So, I then gave it to the Pikers to learn. The idea was that, at Jammin' Toast, they would call the alums up to sing it with them. It would be the 10th anniversary of the group, and it would start a new Piker tradition.
Well, I guess the Pikers weren't too keen on the song. It was autumn when I gave them the arrangement. They said that they were working on music for Green Eggs and Jam, and would do it later (a Nov concert). Then, after Green Eggs, they said they needed to work on music for the Christmas season. Then, after Christmas, they said they needed to work on their other stuff for Jammin' Toast. So, even though I gave it to them 6 months ahead of time, they decided not to learn it. They did give the arrangement to the handful (3 or 4) who DID want to learn and sing it. Then they had the alumni come up and sing the song before intermission at Jammin' Toast with the couple of current Pikers who learned it. The song sounded quite good with the big group (it worked better than it had with the quartet), but doing it right before intermission without the whole Piker group singing it with us made the whole thing seem pretty lame.
In my book, it was a pretty lame of the Pikers to do this. Keep in mind that the song was very easy to learn, and actually had some pretty cool chords in it. But, instead, they decided to drop the ball, and have not picked it up since. I understood when they decided not to sing Hail, Lady Bears, since I just gave it to them without discussing it with them first, but The Pike was a song that they had agreed to do and then decided not to do. These two experiences have made me very wary about doing any arrangements for the Pikers now, since they could just decide not to sing them and I'd be completely wasting my time.
I guess it's clear that I'm bitter about this, but I'm sure you would be too if you invested time, energy, and heart into researching, writing, and arranging an original that could have become a tradition but was unexpectedly and short-sightedly dropped instead. And it might not bother me as much if the song had turned out mediocre, but it actually turned out good (being as objective as I can be). Maybe someday they'll "discover" it and give it a chance.
-Chris Tess