‘THE TALL MAN BEHIND OUR BELOVED. ON, ON, Wo FA. oos..sres tek Pig 4 The carng ad ch of Ua 1 1 L oF ‘The Civil War-also known as the War Between the States, depending on whether you look at that great national trag- cedy through eyes of Blue or eyes of Gray-was a singing and musical war. The men in Blue often reported heating the sound of the Confederate Army's bands above the clash of arms in battle, Historians say no other war in man’s history evidenced so much singing and horse-play. ‘The experience may have provided the stimulus to the adoption of fight songs to accompany our men who do battle fon the playing field, For the University of Kentucky, which ‘was founded in the last year of the great sectional war, it was another 50 years before we adopted our own “fight” song, or feven our own-=and unique—“alma mater.” ‘The man who realized our need for such songs, and did something about it, came to UK in 1917 as head of the Music Department, He retired in 1944, and died in August, 1949. But he left behind two great songs, and we memorialize him each time we sing “On, On, U of K,” and "Hail Kentuc- ky, Alma Mater.” He was Carl A. Lampert, a tall man whose ster visage could not belie his German birth, He was born in Minden, Germany, May 13, 1874, and came to the US. with his parents at age six, During his 26 years on campus he was affectionately known as “Prof.” Miss Marcia Lampert, a daughter who still makes her home in Lexington, recalls that her father began compositon to ‘On, On, U of K," in the spring of 1922 “and after he had ‘come up with a melody of sorts, he played and toyed with it, trying different versions and assorted endings." ‘After he was satisfied with the melody, he offered one of his students a prize of $5 for a set of words to his compos tion, a prize won by Troy Perkins. The new song was intro: duced at a student convocation in the spring of 1923. The song caught on, and the rest is history, except for the little known fact that it is one of the most pirated songs in the industry, “Hail Kentucky,” written in 1917, also lacked the right words, until one day in 1927 the Prof asked a good friend, Mrs, Josephine Funkhouser, wife of the late Dr. W. D. Funk house, if she “could write some words” for the tune. She did, and the new “Alma Mater” was introduced on April 2, 1927, at a concert given by the University Men’s Glee Club. ‘The song was an immediate success. Lest we leave the impression the two UK songs are Prof. Lampert’s only legacy, consider this: He inaugurated the state music contest at the University for high school students; he organized the band which won for itself the ttle “pest band in Dixie” at the Georgia Tech game in 1923; he organized the Men's and Women’s Glee Clubs, the Central Kentucky Choral Society (of 400 voices) and the University Philharmonic Orchestra. And he taught stringed instruments to hundreds of Lexington students. ‘The original manuscripts to the two UK songs have been given by Prof. Lampert’s family to the University King Library SS 48