*Syracuse*

Northwest of Orangetown, New York,
Traveling east of a town called Orangeville,
You will come upon
Syracuse, New York:

Welcome to Orange Nation.

***

There’s an Orange progressive spill
That’s Radioactive.
The contagion is the Syracuse thrill
Going Retroactive.
History’s reshaped
inside
Orange Nation;
In Syracuse, New York,
Where we claim
This Nation.

Breaking down the Times of New York,
That’s News,
Discussions in these top-level buildings,
That’s Views,
The D.O. print is Syracuse
World News,
The North Campus Quad is where
The Orange runs through.
Said
The North Campus Quad is where
The Orange runs through,
In the House of Orange
only
Orange Comes Through,
In Syracuse,
Orange is all we see,
Orange channels through our campus—
CitrusTV.

The Place of Remembrance:
The Orange lives in it,
This Orange Nation,
Yeah,
We in it,
At the Carrier Dome—
The Orange gets in it,
Now we goin’ off…

Code Orange.

Carrier is goin’ off…
Code Orange,
Blow the roof off the dome, blow it off,
Go Orange;
We got 35 thou’ goin’ off,
Code Orange.

This Orange Nation,
Yeah,
We in it,
At the Carrier Dome—
The Orange gets in it,
A debate of better Northeast teams:
We end it.

Lacrosse Champions Eleven Times:
Count ’em up,
Led by #Deuce-Deuce
that’s right,
Double Up,
On field it’s 44s that’s another
Double Up:
Davis, Little, Brown,
Knuckle up.

In hoops we got the ’03 Champs,
Go ‘Melo,
When Orange takes the court
Y’all streak
Goes yellow,
While our streak of 43
winning seasons
Goes, “Hello.”

43 teams in a row—
That’s the record,
35 thou’ in one house,
That’s a record,
We got the best fans in college hoops,
That’s on record.

Otto’s Army stands and claps till we score,
And when the thunder slams,
The louder we roar,
The best college stadium’s
The House of Orange,
We blow the Dome off like nukes:

That’s Code Orange.

This Orange Nation,
Yeah,
We in it,
An M-Street Bar?
The Orange comes in it,
The best state parties?
Syracuse wins it.

Syra-Syracuse Parties—
Get into it,
Syra-Serious Parties—
Get into it,
Name the Frat Row House—
Bet we all went to it.

Join the Comstock parties
and drink in jest,
This row leads to the blast of the year—
Mayfest.

Here’s to a great year,
Let’s drink to Mayfest,
This is the Showcase of Drinking,
Let’s drink through Mayfest,
Here’s to next year,
Let’s drink till next fest!

Drinking in front of cops
without an arrest?
Only in April—
At Mayfest!
Like our Army these shots go
Straight to the Dome,
And the best part?
The cops leave us alone!

Let’s go to the Row every week,
Go Orange,
Parties ’round the clock,
Talkin’
Clockwork Orange,
This a nation’s tribute
Call this piece
Ode Orange,
Get in the party,
Say the code,

#CodeOrange

From Alma Mater Vol. 2: The Northeast
You can read the full four-volume Alma Mater collection here.
Copyright © 2015 Clyde Aidoo