It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
To be exact, it was June 1925 and three young West Point cadets had set out to the Big Apple, New York, New York, in search of fun, adventure, and perhaps a little romance.
After taking in a performance of the year’s hit operetta, The Vagabond King, Cadets Francis Howard, Meredith Masters, and Hamilton Hawkins left the theater each with a lady of the cast on his arm and a song in his heart.
Though the ladies in question remain unknown to this day, the song, called “The Song of the Vagabonds,” endured in the annals of West Point history as a symbol not of love, but of disappointment. For it signals every Army fan’s least favorite point in a game — the touchdown of an opposing team.
That summer, still taken with the memory of that night in the city, the three cadets penned new Army fight song lyrics to the tune of the “Song of the Vagabonds.”
Armed with what we know today as “Slum and Gravy,” they returned to New York to share their work with the operetta’s composer, Rudolf Friml — and to take the aforementioned young ladies on another night about town.
Friml was so impressed with the cadets’ pluck that he pledged to have members of the Vagabond King cast perform “Slum and Gravy” live on Broadway… if West Point won that year’s Army vs. Navy football game.
Luckily for the three young men, their team prevailed that November and their song received its world premiere under the glitzy glare of Broadway’s spotlight.
Alas, the song played for each Army touchdown of a game, “Gridiron Grenadiers,” has no such tale of love and intrigue at its origin — but does it need one?! We here at the West Point Band think it’s legendary enough all by itself just for heralding the most epic moment in any college football game — an Army touchdown!
