The Whiffenpoof Song

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The Whiffenpoof Song
by unknown author

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The song is the traditional closing number of The Whiffenpoofs, an a cappella group at Yale University. It was published in sheet music form in 1909.

Mory's refers to Mory's Temple Bar and Louis to a former owner of Mory's, Louis Linder. The chorus and much of the style; the scansion, though certainly not the mood, is derived from the poem "Gentlemen-Rankers" by Rudyard Kipling, which was set to music by Guy H. Scull (Harvard 1898) and adapted with lyrics by Meade Minnigerode (Yale 1910).

476277The Whiffenpoof Songunknown

To the tables down at Mory's,
To the place where Louis dwells,
To the dear old Temple Bar
We love so well,

Sing the Whiffenpoofs assembled
With their glasses raised on high,
And the magic of their singing casts its spell.

Yes, the magic of their singing
Of the songs we love so well:
"Shall I Wasting" and "Mavourneen" and the rest.

We will serenade our Louis
While life and voice shall last
Then we'll pass and be forgotten with the rest.

We are poor little lambs
Who have lost our way.
Baa! Baa! Baa!
We are little black sheep
Who have gone astray.
Baa! Baa! Baa!

Gentlemen songsters off on a spree
Damned from here to eternity
God have mercy on such as we.
Baa! Baa! Baa!

This work was published in 1909 and is anonymous or pseudonymous due to unknown authorship. It is in the public domain in the United States as well as countries and areas where the copyright terms of anonymous or pseudonymous works are 114 years or less since publication.

Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse

The Whiffenpoof Song

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