Ramblin' Wreck From Georgia Tech - Previous Adaptations

Previous Adaptations

The earliest rendition of the song is "Son of a Gambolier" (also known as "A Son of a Gambolier" and "The Son of a Gambolier"), which is a lament to one's own poverty; a gambolier is "a worthless individual given to carousing, gambling, and general moral depravity." The chorus goes:

Like every jolly fellow
I takes my whiskey clear,
For I'm a rambling rake of poverty
And the son of a gambolier.

The tune was first adapted as a school song by Dickinson College in southern Pennsylvania in the 1850s. Students at the college modified it to include a reference to their college bell by adding the following lyrics:

I wish I had a barrel of rum,
And sugar three hundred pounds,
The college bell to mix it in,
The clapper to stir it round

In 1857, the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity published a songbook that contained a heavily modified version of the song. The adapted chorus used the following lyrics:

I'm a son of a, son of a, son of a, son of a, son of a DKE!
I'm a son of a, son of a, son of a, son of a, son of a DKE!
Like every college fellow, I like my whiskey free,
For I'm a rambling rake of a college man,
And the son of a DKE!

The song was subsequently adapted by the Colorado School of Mines in the late 1870s and entitled "The Mining Engineer." This version is the closest adaptation to "Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech."

Like every honest fellow,
I take my whisky clear,
I'm a rambling wreck from Golden Tech,
a helluva engineer.

The Mines version also includes:

Oh, if I had a daughter
I'd dress her up in green,
And send her up to Boulder
To coach the football team
But if I had a son, sir,
I'll tell you what he'd do—
He'd yell: 'TO HELL WITH BOULDER!'
Like his daddy used to do.

The song is also used by the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, entitled "Ramblin' Wreck" although on campus it is referred to simply as the "School Song." This version is almost identical to the first four lines of "Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech."

I'm a rambling wreck from Rapid Tech, and a helluva engineer.
a helluva, helluva, helluva, helluva, hell of an engineer.
Like all my jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear,
I'm a rambling wreck from Rapid Tech, and a helluva engineer. Hey!

In the early 1890s, Ohio State University adapted it and called it "If I had a Daughter". At the time Ohio Wesleyan University was their arch rival, hence the references to Delaware, Ohio and Methodists. One verse follows:

If I had a daughter, I'd dress her up in green,
I'd send her on the campus to coach the Freshman team;
And if I had a son, I tell you what he'd do
He would yell "To Hell" with Delaware"
And yell for O. S. U.

In 1895, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute adapted it and called it "A Son of Old R.P.I." This version includes the lyrics:

Like every honest fellow,
I drink my whiskey clear,
I'm a moral wreck from the Polytech
And a hell of an engineer.

Two different sources are claimed to have been the origin for the song's music. The first is the marching tune "The Bonnie Blue Flag", published in 1861 by Harry McCarthy. The second, and more widely cited, is Charles Ives' composition of "Son of a Gambolier" in 1895.