Eddyville.Org

The music for the Eddyville-Blakesburg School song of “Onward Rockets” is well known and November 13, 2009 marked its 100^th year anniversary.  The music or melody is from “On, Wisconsin.”  John Philip Sousa who is acknowledged as the “king of marches" referred to it as “the finest of college marching songs.”   The melody was so trendy that according to the University of Wisconsin Marching band archives:  “It is undoubtedly one of the most popular school songs in the country and has been adopted by thousands of high school bands as their own.” 

The lyrics for the first version  of “Onward Eddyville,” were written by students while on a school bus going to a basketball game, around 67 years ago, sometime during the basketball season of 1942 – 1943.  Mildred Johnson was one of those students and a player on the six-girl basketball team.  According to Mildred, the words to the old high school song were hard to remember and not much of a fight song.  She said the kids wanted a song that had more pep with an upbeat tune and words that were easier to remember. 

When there were out-of-town games, both the girls’ and the boys’ basketball teams would have consecutively scheduled games, and so both teams would travel together on the same bus.  There would be around 22 – 24 basketball players on these bus trips plus some other students and adults.  And on one of the out-of-town trips, according to Mildred, the players came up with the words of “Onward Eddyville” to the music of “On, Wisconsin,” and it became the school song.  The high school did not have a band back then, but the kids would sing this song at the games and at pep rallies.  Here are the original lyrics to “Onward Eddyville” and the lyrics to “On, Wisconsin” for comparison:

                Onward Eddyville                                              On, Wisconsin

When football started being played at the high school in the early 1960’s, the lyrics in the first stanza were changed slightly to cheer for the football team, as follows:

Onward Eddyville, onward Eddyville

Grand Old school of ours

Take the ball right down the field

Touchdown every time

Rah-Rah-Rah

The wording of the second and third stanzas remained the same.

In the early 1990’s, when the Eddyville and Blakesburg schools merged, a few more words were changed.  Instead of “Eddyville,” the team name of “Rockets” was substituted.  And “Rockets” was also substituted for “Fellows.”

Onward Rockets

Onward rockets, onward rockets

Grand old school of ours

Take the ball right down the field           or         Shoot the ball right through the basket

Touchdown every time                           or         Two points every time

Rah-Rah-Rah

Onward rockets, onward rockets

Fighting for our fame

Fight rockets

Fight-fight-fight

We’ll win this game!

Prior to “Onward Eddyville,” the original high school song was “Boosting the Old High School.”  The song was published in 1914 by the J.A. Parks Company which was a mail-order sheet music company located in Nebraska.  The Eddyville School along with many other schools adopted this generic song as their own school song, and Eddyville did not change any of the lyrics.  There was no direct reference to the Eddyville School.

Boosting the Old High School

Faithful and truehearted, let us cheer our dear “Old High”

We revere her and defend her, and her colors proudly fly

We will stand for her, united, of her deeds we gladly tell

Her colors streaming, glad faces beaming,

So here’s a cheer for her that we all love so well.

Chorus

Joyous and ever loyal, Let us boost for our “Old High.”

Let ev’ry heart sing, Let ev’ry voice ring

There’s no time to grieve or sigh;

It’s ever onward our course pursuing,

May defeat ne’er our ardor cool,

But united, we will boost for her, our “Old High School.”

Honors she has taken, on the track and with the ball

May she always rank the highest, may her colors never fall

There’s no other that can match her when her team is on the field

Her boys the fleetest and her girls the sweetest

Then here’s a cheer for her, for her who ne’er will yield.

Repeat chorus

________________________________________________________________________

The old school song is sung every year at the alumni banquet.  However, there are hardly any of the alumni who remember the words, so copies of sheet music with the lyrics are handed out beforehand. It is understandable, why students back in the early 1940’s wanted another school song.  Even then some of the words were quaint and outdated.  Can you picture students, today, singing this song with “glad faces beaming?”   Yes, there would be smiles on their faces or they would be breaking-up in laughter if they had to sing some of these phrases:  “May defeat ne’er our ardor cool” or “There’s no time to grieve or sigh” or “But united, we will boost for her” or “Her boys the fleetest and the girls the sweetest.”   

Yes, times have changed.  But for the more senior alumni, the old song brings forth many fond memories of their high school days and these memories are a treasure.  After all these years, the alumni are still loyal to this “grand old school of ours.”

“So here’s a cheer for her that we all love so well.”

Rah-Rah-Rah