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 Georgia Tech's famous fight song
First appeared in print in the 1908 year book, The Blue Print, under the title "What Makes Whitlock Blush."
The melody's origins have been credited to different sources. One is a marching song of a regiment of Scotsmen who fought for the North during the Civil War called "The Son of a Gambolier."
Another is attributed to one Harry McCarthy, a variety entertainer, who is said to have written it as a marching song, "The Bonnie Blue Flag", in the spring of 1861. In his lyric he recounts the reasons why the South seceded from the Union. It became popular in the South with 11 editions, each with slightly different words, printed by the war's end.
In 1879, The Colorado School of Mining, began using a version of the song for its fight song, calling it The Mining Engineer.
The first arrangement of the song as "The Ramblin' Wreck" at Georgia Tech is attributed to Mike Greenblatt, a young musician who was hired by a group of Tech students to be their first official band leader in 1910.
In 1914, Tech band leader, Frank "Wop" Roman, created another arrangement which he copyrighted. The song became popular with big name bands and was often played on the radio becoming popular nationwide. When Roman died in 1928, his widow sold his music to the Melrose Bros. Music Company, including Tech's famous song.
The copyright expired in 1952 and Greenblatt rewrote the old arrangement and applied for a new copyright. In 1953, Mr. Greenblatt signed over his rights of that arrangement to the Institute for one dollar.
The song made news again in later years when Paul McCartney bought the Melrose portfolio but the matter was quickly cleared up legally and Tech has its song forever.
Ramblin' Wreck Piano Score (PDF: 84.7KB/3pgs)
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"Ramblin' Wreck" Sheet Music
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