(09-25-2015, 05:01 AM)gocard14 link Wrote:Fleet Street alum here. One of our former members arranged the Stanford hymn (aka hail Stanford hail), as well as come join the band, dirty golden 59er, etc. it was a brilliant move, as they've been hired for alumni gigs ever since.
While the hymn isn't a particularly inspired melody, I won't lie that hearing it performed (very well) at our Fleet Street reunion show gave me goosebumps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBchSXcyJKw, skip to 1:30:40
Brilliant, Gocard. I was hoping that someone from Fleet Street would fill us in. No, the actual melody is not catchy, and so what I think makes the piece so effective is the Fleet Street arrangement with its chords and harmonies. It rescued this piece from sounding like the 19th Century hymn that it is.
When I first heard the lyrics I found them to be maudlin, but they have grown on me in later years. I have more to relate to them now that I have spent many hours hiking in the hills and baylands, watching sunsets, etc. I remember sitting very high on the El Camino side of the new stadium a couple of years ago as the sun set over the hills to the west. Brilliant color-streaked sky above Hoover Tower and the red roofs of the campus. Suddenly I felt connected to the first verse in a way I had not before. That night I left my seat early and moved to the Red zone so after the game I could sing with the students and the band and the team.