Origin of the MFC Song

[Its Time for Another 4,051]

Thought this might be a bit of trivia that might be of interest to some.

I had no idea about the origins of the team song, I guess I assumed it had been written especially for MFC but here is where it came from.

I'd never really thought about it before but the song is based on a Grand Old Flag which really is irrelevant to MFC. Since when do we rally around a Flag. Maybe it should have been Grand Old Team.

I got this from wikipedia url http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27re_a_Grand_Old_Flag

You're a Grand Old Flag" is an American patriotic march. The song, a spirited march written by George M. Cohan, is a tribute to the American flag. In addition to obvious references to the flag, it incorporates snippets of other popular songs, including one of his own. Cohan wrote it in 1906 for George Washington, Jr., his stage musical.^[1]

History[edit]

The song was first publicly performed on February 6, the play's opening night, at Herald Square Theater in New York City. "You're a Grand Old Flag" quickly became the first song from a musical to sell over a million copies of sheet music.^[1] The title and first lyric comes from someone Cohan once met; the Library of Congress website notes:

The original lyric for this perennial George M. Cohan favorite came, as Cohan later explained, from an encounter he had with a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg. The two men found themselves next to each other and Cohan noticed the vet held a carefully folded but ragged old flag. The man reportedly then turned to Cohan and said, "She's a grand old rag." Cohan thought it was a great line and originally named his tune "You're a Grand Old Rag." So many groups and individuals objected to calling the flag a "rag," however, that he "gave 'em what they wanted" and switched words, renaming the song "You're a Grand Old Flag".^[1]

— Library of Congress

In the play itself, the scene with the Civil War soldier was replicated. The soldier's comment was the lead-in to this song. Thus the first version of the chorus began, "You're a grand old rag / You're a high-flying flag". Despite Cohan's efforts to pull that version, some artists such as Billy Murray had recorded it under its original title, "The Grand Old Rag", in advance of the play's opening, and copies under that title still circulate among collectors. Cohan's second attempt at writing the chorus began, "You're a grand old flag / Though you're torn to a rag". The final version, with its redundant rhyme, is as shown below.

Lyrics[edit]

The MFC song is taken just from the Chorus.

Chorus

You're a grand old flag,

You're a high-flying flag,

And forever in peace may you wave.

You're the emblem of the land I love,

The home of the free and the brave.

Ev'ry heart beats true

'Neath the Red, White and Blue,^{[N 4]}

Where there's never a boast or brag.

But should auld acquaintance be forgot,^{[N 5]}

Keep your eye on the grand old flag.

In popular culture[edit]

• "You're a Grand Old Flag" was used in a major production number in Cohan's 1942 film biography, Yankee Doodle Dandy.
• Recordings by Pride of the 48 and Catalina Strings, were used in the film Born on the Fourth of July.
• The tune of "You're a Grand Old Flag" formed the basis of the club song of the Melbourne Football Club.^[2]
• In the 1986 Kidsongs video "Sing Out, America", the barbershop quartet sang the first part of "You're a Grand Old Flag" and then the Kidsongs Kids sang the second part.
• Billy Murray's rendition of "You're a Grand Old Flag" is featured in the 2013 video game BioShock Infinite.
• The tune "You're a Grand Old Flag" is used as the school song for Big Lake High School in Big Lake, MN.
• In an episode of the Nicktoon Fanboy and Chum Chum, a song called "It's a Grand Old Candy" was sung to the tune of "You're a Grand Old Flag."

Edited January 28, 2015 by It's Time

[Vagg 2,422]

I'm shocked to see no reference in the above account to the fact it is also the theme song for the mighty Sale Footy Club! (Except, being black & white, their version goes: "every heart beats RIGHT for the black & the WHITE"...!) LOL

[AzzKikA 2,369]

Did you know the song was first sung by Melbourne players on a trip to Hobart in 1912, and the second verse was written by Keith "Bluey" Truscott after the 1939 premiership?

[rpfc 27,391]

Yeah, I love this stuff.

Imagine the cries of the faithful when we adopted a Yankee song as our song.

"This is just another hair-brained scheme to deflect attention from the fact that we let University score twice last week!"

"I don't understand - what does a Grand Old Flag have to do with the Fuschias of Melbourne?"

"This is just another case of American culture bleeding into our culture."

[AzzKikA 2,369]

Too late to change it now, we will end up with something like the Freo song!

[praha 10,267]

I first heard the song while playing Bioshock Infinite last year. Recognised the tune straight away.

I actually like the bit from 0:13 to 1:17. It's quite hearty, especially the "hoorah, hoorah" bit at 0:32.

Edited January 28, 2015 by praha

[jazza 1,323]

When OD was in the Crimean war,he said it was sung after every light brigade charge.

[Moonshadow 16,114]

Kids version. Nothing like instilling a dose of blind patriotism at an early age! There's a whole stack of similar USA tunes for kids on youtube.

[Bobby McKenzie 2,169]

I'm shocked to see no reference in the above account to the fact it is also the theme song for the mighty Sale Footy Club! (Except, being black & white, their version goes: "every heart beats RIGHT for the black & the WHITE"...!) LOL

I didn't know about the Sale footy club but it is the theme song of West Perth in the WAFL. They are red and blue so it is the same as our mighty song. The first chorus at least.

One cheeky West Perth supporter even told me that the Melbourne Football Club copied it from West Perth! LOL. It is a grand old song and let's hope we hear it a lot more this year.

[hardtack 10,126]

Wasn't there a similar post last year? Might be worth dragging it up and merging... it had a lot of good info as well.

[Biffen 12,298]

It's a rags to riches to rags story.

Much like the MFC, the USA has failed to win anything since Korea.

[CBDees 3,162]

I just want to hear the second verse played by the AFL after our wins (plus I would like that to be every week)!