Forty Years On (song)
Forty Years On is a song written by Edward Ernest Bowen and John Farmer in 1872.
It is specifically about life at school and is meant to give pupils now an idea of what it will be like in forty years when they return to their old school, and to remind old boys about their school life. It is the main school song of Harrow School, and is sung there at the end of any songs (this is an occasion when old boys of the school return to hear the schools songs being sung by current pupils, or an occasion within houses for singing the same songs at the end of each term), followed by Auld Lang Syne and the British National Anthem (God Save The Queen). Traditionally, verse three is sung by Old Harrovians in attendance at School Songs. The Churchill verse is only sung once a year at a special Churchill Songs. The penultimate Follow Up! in each chorus is sung unaccompanied by the School XII, which is made up of the best singers in the top year.
The song was used in the film Young Winston.
Read more about Forty Years On (song): The Lyrics, The Starehe Boys' Centre and School Rendition
Famous quotes containing the words forty and/or years:
“Young fellows are tempted by girls, men who are thirty years old are tempted by gold, when they are forty years old they are tempted by honor and glory, and those who are sixty years old say to themselves, “What a pious man I have become.””
—Martin Luther (1483–1546)
“For some years now, there has been proof that the devastating effects of the traumatization of children take their inevitable toll on society—a fact that we are still forbidden to recognize. This knowledge concerns every single one of us, and—if disseminated widely enough—should lead to fundamental changes in society; above all, to a halt in the blind escalation of violence.”
—Alice Miller (20th century)