The alma mater song "The Mountains," thought to be the first composed by an undergraduate, was written by Washington Gladden, Williams class of 1859. In his memoirs, he wrote:
"I had been wishing that I might write a song which could be sung at some of our exhibitions; and one winter morning, walking down Bee Hill, the lilt of the chorus of "The Mountains" came to me. I had a little music-paper in my room in the village, and on my arrival I wrote down the notes. Then I cast about for words to fit them, and the refrain 'The Mountains, the Mountains!' suggested itself. I wrote the melody of the stanza next and fitted the verses to it. . . . That it would . . . become the accepted College Song, I could not, of course, have imagined."
Click play below to view the college's 2015 Holiday Email performance of The Mountains.
Listen to our own class sing The Mountains at the 40th Reunion Saturday Dinner
(over Harry's cell phone to Webmaster Megan Hawgood '88)
The Mountains ('72 Style for Megan) by myhawgood
To download a copy of the sheet music, click here.
