Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute songs


There are several songs about Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute traditionally sung at special events.

Here's to Old RPI

"Here's to Old RPI" is the Alma Mater of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. It is sung at various formal events. It is also played by the RPI Pep Band at Hockey games. It was written in 1897 by Edmund Fales, and was published in the first book of Songs of Rensselaer, printed in 1913.

All We've Learned at Rensselaer

"All We've Learned at Rensselaer" is a song written by Rensselyrics co-founder and traditionally sung by the Rensselyrics at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute commencement ceremonies. Each verse or section has a different musical style, several of which are closely based on Billy Joel songs or other popular music.
As many facets of life at RPI have changed over the years, the lyrics have changed appropriately. For example, "F-Test" has been replaced with "Chem Test". Likewise, the "Hole in the Wall" has been replaced by a new addition in the same building and an existing feature.
However, some of the classes still referred to in the song no longer exist:
  • COLD, succeeded in the 1997-1998 catalog by "Computer Components & Operations"
  • Lumps, very similar to what is now Dynamic Systems
Additionally, the stanza listing several buildings by their acronyms is somewhat outdated, as the school administration made a concerted effort to eliminate the acronym form of building names in the late 1990s :
Other acronyms:
  • AML
  • CAD
  • CAM
  • CANOS
  • CHUD
  • Diff EQ
  • DSA
  • DMS
  • E-I
  • EMAC
  • EMD
  • EPAL
  • GMP
  • IEA
  • IED
  • IPAC
  • MAU
  • MSL
  • O-Chem
  • PDI
  • POMCA
  • S-O
  • STS
  • TF1/2
  • UPAC
In more recent years, this entertaining song has been cut from the ceremony by administration at the last minute for unknown reasons. It was absent from the program for the 201st Commencement of the spring of 2007, though was present in earlier years.

Hail, Dear Old Rensselaer

"Hail, Dear Old Rensselaer" is the school's fight song. It is still played today by the RPI Pep Band at athletic events and other school functions. At some point someone updated the words of the fight song to make it more politically correct than it was back in the 60's. Where it now says "We all must do our part" used to be "Each man must do his part" and the line "True to old Rensselaer." used to be "True sons of Rensselaer."

Lyrics

Words and Music by Charles S. Root '34

Can You Spell Rensselaer?

Throughout the school's history, incoming students and non-students experience difficulty with the spelling and pronunciation of "Rensselaer". While the local population of those native to Troy, New York colloquially use two syllables when saying the name, the student population always uses three. This song, with words and music by E.M. Frost, 1911, aims to simplify the art of spelling the name.