*UAlbany*

At the start of a new school year,
New names become Great Danes and
are celebrated with a grand lighting ceremony
capped off with spectacular fireworks. It is apropos for these thousands who will go on to hold a candle for the remarkable post-modernist architecture found on Uptown Campus, the moving spirit of homecoming, the Empire State Plaza downtown, and life in the quads. This crowd will go on to attend festivals of state-wide unity like LarkFEST, games in The RACC, and in four years—their own graduation.

With these candles, Danes will take this heat
And turn up like an oven knob,
Watch as UAlbany Burns & Burns
With fires hence set by the crazy mob.

***

We Turnt Up,
We Turnt Up,
Burn the wax on both ends
Before time’s burnt up.
We Turnt Up,
We Turnt Up,
&
We don’t want this shit to end,
Albany Stand Up.

We Turnt Up, all-the-way—
Turnt Up,
Halloween—
We Turnt Up,
UAlbany—
Turned Up.
October 31st—it’s time to fuckin’ parrrty,
No dress code, Danes, welcome to da parrrty.
Dresses half off
like a fuckin’ barrrgain,
Free space on all sides—
That’s a fuckin’ marrrgin.
Costumes out,
There go a French maid,
Skip a French kiss,
We gettin’ French laid.
Voo Lay Voo Koo Shay…
Cut off—by the pass,
Admission’s co-ed nude,
Fa-Fa-Fa-Free at last.
And when it turns spring,
we meet up
At the Fountain…
Coolest
College
Day
Ever,
The motherfuckin’
Fountain.
Beach balls,
Yup.
Booze Waterfalls,
Yup.
Near Nudity,
Yup.
Crowd Surfin’,
Yup.
Drenched in fun,
Yup,
Soaked in the sun,
Yup.
Party School—
Albany Come Stand Up.

We Turnt Up,
We Turnt Up,
Burn the wax on both ends
Before time’s burnt up.
We Turnt Up,
We Turnt Up,
&
We don’t want this shit to end,
Albany Stand Up.

They broke up Kegs n’ Eggs,
They said it cracked too hard,
Accused of parties on ‘roids,
These streets we ran too hard,
Take away the Fountain—that’s a yellow flag,
They diced up Kegs n’ Eggs—that’s called a “hash tag.”
Some say these parties damage names, well
We don’t give a damn,
Some say our party rep is damaged, hell
We don’t give a damn;
We set like Joan Jett—
Nah we don’t give a damn…
cuz
♫We don’t wear shame, we rock Bob Ford,
Party numbers don’t lie, check the scoreboard♫
The parties never wrap—that’s why we fuckin’ rock,
Hudson house parties: They go around the block.
Thursdays we go to Dub-T’s for the Jumbo Wings,
Bucket Thursdays—washing down the “Wing Dings.”
At the Abbott, Great Danes always gettin’ dirty,
Like an attic, Great Danes always gettin’ dirty.
Fridays is Bogie’s or Lark Street for some live mu-sic,
We got them Earth Tones blowin’ up that live mu-sic,
The music never wraps— that’s why we fuckin’ rock,
FallFest, Parkfest—You know it’s time to rock.
At Parkfest, Danes, you better come to rock.
Saturdays—at Dub-T’s—we right back,
Gold and Purple hit the streets…like “take that,”
We throw them parties that catch us a lot of flack,
We on that Schwarzenegger—
We don’t know how to act.

We Turnt Up,
(what!)
We Turnt Up,
(what!)
Burn the wax on both ends
Before time’s burnt up.
We Turnt Up,
(what!)
We Turnt Up,
(what!)
&
We hope this never ends,
Albany Stand Up.

We Turned Up,
These credits—
We earned up,
Commencement Weekend—
Party’s over
&
Time’s up.
We light these candles going back to where it started,
Reflecting back on the fire this class started,
A ceremony where the seniors pass the torch—
To the next class, this scene’s now yours to scorch.

But man,
We turned up,
We turned up,
Burnt the wax on both ends
And now the time’s up.
We turned up,
We turned up,
&
As we walk into the end,
Albany Stand Up.

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