Georgia Tech Yellowjackets get stung.

This is an excerpt from the book 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis, available now on Amazon.com's Kindle for just 99 cents at:  amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1

GEORGIA TECH YELLOWJACKETS

            Based in Atlanta for the sole purpose of giving Thursday night ESPN games a nice skyline shot.

The 1893 Georgia Tech team pictured here in the beautiful heart of the main campus.  I swear the first man lying down on the right is the late Graham Chapman from Monty Python.  The late Herve’ Villechaize, better known as Tattoo, is third from the right top row.  Stand up, Herve’.  Oh, sorry.

Tech has the best fight song in college football, ‘I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech', despite the fact its melody was stolen from a Lithuanian vomiting ballad.  It’s the only fight song ever used to bridge a diplomatic gap in international relations.    

During the famous 1958 Kitchen Debate in Moscow, then-Vice President Richard Nixon got into an argument with Soviet head Nikita Khrushchev.  In order to find common ground the two world leaders sang the only song they both knew, ‘I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck'.  Nikita had heard the song sung by the Tech Glee Club on the Ed Sullivan Show, although the prudish Sullivan made them sing “heck” instead of “hell.”

            The incident solidified belief on the Georgia campus that the Atlanta school was full of pinkos.  Here are the lyrics:

“I’m a Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.

A helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer.

Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear,

I’m Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech and a hell of an engineer.

Oh, if I had a daughter, sir, I’d dress her in White and Gold.

And put her on the campus to cheer the brave and bold.

And if I had a son, sir, I’ll tell you what he’d do,

He would yell “TO HELL WITH GEORGIA’ like his daddy used to do.

I wish I had a barrel of rum and sugar three thousand pounds,

A college bell to put it in, and a clapper to stir it round.

I’d drink to all the good fellows who come from far and near,
I’m a ramblin, gamblin’ hell of an engineer. Hey!”                                 

It’s based on an old tune called ‘The Son of a Gambolier.’  Gambolier is Gaelic for “one who gambols.”  Or is it gambles?  Here is the original song:

“I’m a rambling rake of poverty

From Tiprery town I came.

‘Twas poverty compelled me first,

To go out in the rain;

In all sorts of weather,

Be it wet or be it dry,

I’m bound to get my livelihood

Or lay me down and die.

Then combine your humble ditties

As from inn to tavern we steer,

Like every honest fellow

I takes my whiskey clear,

For I’m a rambling rake of poverty

And the son of a gambolier.

I once was tall and handsome,

And was so very neat,

They though I was too good to live,

Most good enough to eat;

But now I’m old, my coat is torn,

And poverty holds me fast,

And every girl turns up her nose,

As I go wandering past.

I’m a rambling rake of poverty,

From Tippery town I came,

My coat I bought from an old Jew shop,

Way down in Maiden Lane;

My hat I got from a sailor lad

Just eighteen years ago,

And my shoes I picked from an old dust heap

Which everyone shunned but me.”

Not exactly a ditty you’ll hear being hummed down at the Anti-Defamation League office.         

The song has actually been used by many colleges with different lyrics, but it’s the Tech version that holds sway.

Name another college fight song sung by the likes of John Wayne in the movie ‘The High and the Mighty’, which was the movie spoofed by ‘Airplane’, and Gregory Peck in ‘The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’, and Daffy Duck in a cartoon.  It’s even been sung in space and on boats crossing the English Channel on D-Day.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney bought up the copyrights for one version of the song.  Some idiots on a Diversity Task Force at Tech tried to screw with the lyrics in the 1990s to make the song more politically correct.  They were told to suck it by the students and the song remains the same with apologies to Led Zeppelin for that last line.

Their other fight song is ‘Up with the White and Gold’.  Kind of pales in comparison although it does have one memorable line:  “We’ll drop our battle axe on Georgia’s head.”

The official Ramblin’ Wreck car was unveiled in 1961.  It was a 1930 Model A Ford Sport Coupe restored in grand fashion.  There had been several cars around campus over the years that had been called the Wreck and the first one anyone can remember was actually traded in for another jalopy.

Some claim the name comes from Tech grads that plied their living in South America around 1900 and engineered machines to traverse the jungles of that wild continent.  The contrivances were called rambling wrecks by the natives.

There used to be a race between Atlanta and Athens every year beginning in 1929 called the Flying Flivver, but the cows on the road got thicker the closer they came to UGA, which made it too dangerous.  The Ramblin’ Wreck Parade took its place every Homecoming Week in which students design and build wrecks to drive.  Or they just find a GM product.  Many of these devices have exploded and burned on the parade route.

Dean of Students James Dull decided sometime before ’61 that the school needed an official wreck so he began a statewide search.  The search ended when he walked out of his apartment and found the 1930 Model A Ford Sport Coupe sitting in front of the building.  A little pleading with the owner and the car was theirs.

The Wreck has seen its share of trouble.  It’s been borrowed unexpectedly and without permission twice.  In other words, UGA fans purloined it.  It was painted orange by Volunteer fans in that sickly color they’re fond of.  And it’s even been shot.  An Auburn fan was suspected of the gunplay, but residing in downtown Atlanta it’s amazing it hasn’t been shot more than once.

If you like what you've read so far just wait until you see the rest about LSU and all the other SEC schools, as well as Texas, Texas A&M, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Miami. It's all in 'The Totally Biased Guide to Southern College Football' by Pete Davis and available for the price of a Whopper Jr. on Kindle at:  Amazon.com/dp/B005FRFMYW

And you can follow me on twitter: @petedavis1