Ramblin' Wreck/White & Gold (1925, Vocal) - First Recording of Georgia Tech Fight Songs

This 78 RPM shellac record from 1925 was the first-ever recording of Georgia Tech's famed fight songs, "I'm a Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech" and "Up with the White and Gold". It was billed as the first recording of any Southern school's songs. Nearly a century later, it can finally be heard again.

This side of the disc is a recording by a group of students at what was then called the Georgia School of Technology, performing under the name "Yellow Jacket Four". The other side contains the Georgia Tech Band playing the same songs. According to contemporary information from the Technique and Blue Print, the quartet consisted of:

Arthur B. Edge, Jr., Textile Engineering '26, Baritone
Ivan A. "Ike" Williams, Commerce '26, Tenor
Webster C. "Web" Brown, Commerce '26, Bass
Albin Omberg "Al" Holder, Commerce '25, Tenor
William C. "Bill" Walton Jr., Commerce '28, Piano

The four singers were members of the Glee Club, and Walton was a member of the Glee Club Orchestra. Arthur Edge Jr. is remembered on The Flats as the namesake of the Edge athletics center, adjacent to Bobby Dodd Stadium. Ike Williams is notable as the quarterback of the 1925 Tech football team, and played professionally in the late 1920's.

If you've read this far, you may be interested in one more thing. "White and Gold" bears an obvious similarity to Cal's song "The Stanford Jonah". It has occasionally been suggested that Tech stole the song from Cal during the 1929 Rose Bowl. This 1925 recording of Tech singing it ought to debunk that rumor once and for all. Somebody please edit the Stanford Jonah page on Wikipedia! (For what it's worth, I do believe we stole the song from Cal, but earlier.)

Bonus trivia: listen closely to the lyrics on White and Gold. Notice anything different?