KEGS Aston - The School Song

The School Song

King Edward VI

There has been some discussion of the school song on the message boards of Friendsreunited where my old friend Martin Leigh has described it as 'pretty naff'. I can just hear Martin saying that!!

As a humble scientist I must naturally defer to the 'arts' lobby but I think the song was written, not for adults, but for schoolboys and should be judged in that context. (Phew! that sounds pretentious, even for me!)

Alan Loader (AOE 1976-83) tells me that the music was composed by one Alfred Robert Gaul (1837-1913), and the words by Alfred Hayes.

Chorus: Long live the good old School boys, Let all good fellows sing, Long live the name of Edward, Our Founder and our King!
Now let us lift our voices, With one consent to sing Long live the name of Edward, Our Founder and our King! Who will not join this chorus Is either rogue or fool, Long live the name of Edward! God bless the brave old School.	We sing our great departed, Whom none may disallow, Strong souls whose tasks are ended Sweet voices silent now; Their memories lead us forward To still uphold the fight, To strike at wrong and falsehood And guard the truth and right.
We sing our living heroes, Who learnt the Game of Life, In Cricket's honest warfare, And Football's manly strife; In triumph ever modest, In danger, ever cool, They win, throughout the world, boys, Fresh laurels for the School.	Old time is on our track, boys, And seas may soon divide The voices now united, The friends now side by side, But whereso'er we carry The pride of Edward's name, Let each forget himself, boys, And play to win the game.

Buried somewhere deep in the archives of the BBC Birmingham should be a recording of us singing the school song in morning assembly. This was for a radio programme entitled 'One term away' which was all about Longdon Hall and was produced by R D 'Reggie' Smith (Aston 1926). One of the verses was sung as a solo by Clive Wearing who went on to win a Choral Scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge. The BBC Information Team tells me that, in those days, material once broadcast was discarded which is why you had to put up with me singing instead!

They still sing the school song at the end of each term and, in addition nowadays, at the 'Leaver's Assembly'.

And according to Richard Bedwell (AOE 1995 - 2002), like us, they still sing the third verse quietly - and then 'let rip' in the last!

In 2008 veteran teacher, and staff editor of The Record', Roger Cockbill (1966-2006) told me he thought there was a fifth verse to the school song. Prompted by his assertion, I contacted the ever helpful Foundation Archivist, Alison Wheatley. Roger needed a copy of its decorative cover anyway, for the 125th anniversary edition of said school magazine.

Alison tracked this down in the Music Department at King Edward's School, Birmingham (the 'High School' to my generation), headed by former Aston music master, Martin Monks. Once located, it transpired that the cover was a low quality photocopy, but the score did indeed contain a fifth verse. Here it is:

Then long as goals are reckoned,
And long as Greek is read,
And Wisdom's name is graven
Above the seat of dread,*
Whatever fate betide us,
We need not fear to sing,
Long live the name of Edward,
Our founder and out King!

* On the oak canopy above the Chief Master's chair at KES , the word "Sapientia" is engraved.

Nobody has been more delighted at this discovery than Roger who, for the last 25 years, has been trying to persuade everyone at Aston that the school song had a fifth verse!