Far Above Cayuga's Waters

DESCRIPTION: "Far above Cayuga's waters, with its waves of blue, Stands out noble Alma Mater, glorious to view." In praise of Cornell University: "Hail to thee our Alma Mater, Hail! all hail! Cornell!"
AUTHOR: Music: ("Annie Lisle" by) H. S. Thompson. Words: Archibald C. Weeks amd Wilmot M. Smith
EARLIEST DATE: 1876
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 49, "Far Above Cayuga's Waters" (1 text)
Fuld-BookOfWorldFamousMusic, p. 102, "Annie Lisle -- (Far Above Cayuga's Waters)"
DT, CRNLALMA
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Far Above Cayuga's Waters (Parodies)"
SAME TUNE:
Far Above Cayuga's Waters (Parodies) [File: EM348]
Annie Lisle
NOTES [137 words]: For some reason, this seems to be the most popular of all official college songs. Of course, it is also the most parodied (see the cross-references).
The tune, "Annie Lisle," is dated by Fuld to 1858; the source of the words is uncertain, but Fuld credits them to the authors listed here. They were probably written in 1872, but first published in 1876. According to Jon W. Finson, The Voices That Are Gone: Themes in Nineteenth-Century American Popular Song, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 90, "'Annie Lisle' occupied a central place in the nineteenth-century repertory, and its melody is still so popular that it appears retexted in various school songs, most notably including 'Far Above Cauyga's Waters' or 'Hark! The Sound of Tarheel Voices.'" For such a popular song, traditional collections are extremely few. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.1
File: FSWB049

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography