Give My Regards to Davy

Tee Fee Crane and "Davy" in the 1910s

"Give My Regards to Davy" is Cornell University's primary fight song. The song's lyrics were written in 1905 by Cornell alumni Charles E. Tourison (1905), W. L. Umstad (1906), and Bill Forbes (1906), a trio of roommates at Beta Theta Pi, and set to the tune of George M. Cohan's "Give My Regards to Broadway".[1]

The song refers to a fictional encounter between an anonymous student, David Fletcher "Davy" Hoy (for whom Hoy Field is named), the registrar and secretary for the committee on student conduct, and Thomas Frederick "Tee Fee" Crane, the Professor of Languages and the first Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences revolving around the student's expulsion for binge drinking.[2] Hoy was known for his ferocity as a strict disciplinarian. Crane, on the other hand, was generally well liked among students. "Piker" is believed to be a historical slang term for a freshman,[3] but it actually means a poor student or slacker.[4]

Theodore Zinck's was a bar in downtown Ithaca that has since closed. Its legend still lives on in the weekly event for seniors "Zinck's Night", which is celebrated worldwide in October by Cornellians.[5]

  1. ^ Songs of Cornell, compiled and edited by Thomas A. Sokol; Cornell University Glee Club, Ithaca, New York, 1988
  2. ^ "Marching Band". Archived from the original on September 10, 2006. Retrieved September 7, 2006.
  3. ^ "Dear Uncle Ezra". Cornell University. Archived from the original on June 12, 2007. Retrieved February 21, 2008.
  4. ^ Barrett, Grant (December 5, 2020). "Language Mysteries in Fight Song Lyrics, Like "Piker"". A Way with Words. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  5. ^ "The Cornell Fight Song". Cornell University. Archived from the original on September 10, 2006. Retrieved September 6, 2006.