"I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover"

Ever wonder where that song came from and why West High students used to sing it as their "fight" song?

The song was written in 1927 by two well known writers. Harry Woods (1896-1970) wrote the music and Mort Dixon (1892-1956) wrote the words. Woods wrote several other well known songs including "When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbing Along"; "When the Moon Comes Over The Mountain"; and "Try A Little Tenderness". Dixon's lyrics include "That Old Gang of Mine"; "Bye, Bye Blackbird"; and "I Found a Million Dollar Baby". His efforts earned him a place in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

But, "Four Leaf Clover" received very little attention until 1948 when it was recorded by Art Mooney. As the song rose in the charts the Blue Jays were advancing to another State Championship in basketball to go with the first place trophies they received in 1944 and 1946. Looking for something rhythmic to sing and clap their hands to a lone trumpeter played "Four Leaf Clover" at a game one night and the rest , as they say, is history.

ALMA MATER

However, the history of the "Alma Mater" goes back even further. It is true the first line is "On the city's western border" and when we were in school the city limits were less than a mile away,  but West High took those words from the Vanderbilt Alma Mater. When Robert Vaughn wrote those words in 1907 Vanderbilt University was indeed the western border of the city. Today the "western border" would be the Davidson County line or somewhere past Bellevue.

But, all Vaughn did was add words to the Cornell Alma Mater which begins with "Far Above Cayuga's waters", a reference to Lake Cayuga near Ithaca, New York. Those words were penned by Archibald Weeks and Wilmot Smith in 1875. And the tune was actually written 1n 1857 by H.S. Thompson.

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