Bowdoin College (Brunswick, Maine) has an old song entitled "Beneath the Pines." Its refrain contains these lyrics:

We were slingin' the ink, the ink, the ink,

Slingin' the ink, the ink, the ink,

Slingin' the ink and kiddin' the profs along;

Beneath the pines of dear old Bowdoin

We were slingin' the ink and kiddin' the profs along.

 

I noticed that the song had no attribution for either author or composer but didn't think much of that until I discovered that Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has a song entitled "I want to go back to Coe again" with a nearly identical refrain. Bowdoin and Coe are thousands of miles apart and share no history.

I then discovered similar lyrics in the song collection of Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska and in a song collection of Mary Hardin-Baylor College, published by Stillhouse Hollow Publishers in Belton, Texas.

 

Where did this song come from originally and how did it appear in Maine, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas? Any further clues would be most welcome!

 

Anthony Antolini

Bowdoin College Music Department