Few teachers, let alone students, know of the now-disused DHS school song. Yet it remains written on the last page of the student handbook, which freshmen are required to look at towards the beginning of the school year. The lyrics are as follows:
Oh, wave our colors orange and blue.
Spread them to every breeze.
Our love for them will e’er be true
As we roam o’er distant seas.
And while we fight for victory for alma mater dear,
While we struggle on the High School field,
This cry from us you’ll hear: Rah, Rah, Rah!
Fight for the orange and blue,
Fight ever till the game is o’er!
Then we will celebrate, celebrate,
As we’ve often done before.
We’ll wave our flags and cry
Three hearty cheers for Danbury High!
We will fight ever on till the victory is won
for the ORANGE AND BLUE!
The last evidence of this song being used is from the eighties—the lyrics can be found on a ClassCreator site for the DHS Class of ‘81 High School Reunion. So what happened to this song?
DHS Principal Dan Donovan did not have the song’s tune and so suggested asking the music teachers. Dr. Mary Peters, the orchestra teacher, has worked here for 17 years. While she herself did not know the song, she knew that Dr. Kimberly Russell—the former choir teacher here and a DHS Class of ‘02 alumnus—did know it. According to Russell, the song was used back when she was in high school, and it is sung to the tune of the Princeton Fight Song.
Dr. Obre, an art teacher, has worked at DHS for nearly 30 years. “I’m assuming [the song] was popular maybe in the 50s or 60s. But during my tenure here… the first 15 years or so, I never heard the school song,” he says. Given Rusell was a student during this time period, the song may have been played in unofficial settings, which would explain why she heard it but Obre didn’t.
Things changed when in 2009 DHS got a new principal from Arizona: Dr. Bob Rossi. According to Dr. Obre, “the high school he was at in Arizona really used the school song for pep rallies and events. So when that principal came to Danbury to be the principal of DHS, he said, ‘Wow, we should really resurrect the school song.’”
The song went on to be used at events such as pep rallies and talent shows, played by the school band. However, Rossi left after 2011, and the song hasn’t been played since. It essentially disappeared altogether, and now most of the school isn’t even aware of its existence.
Should the song return? Lian Fernandes, a senior, thinks so. “It would bring more cheer and fun to us,” she says. “I already think the school is quite boring… Some other students may [say] otherwise thinking it will make it more cringe, but I just think it would add a little bit of element, you know?”
DHS has existed for a long time. Naturally, traditions have come and gone over the years. School songs can raise school spirit and give the school a sense of identity and community. Should this piece of the school’s history and traditions matter to students, or should the song be left behind? In any case, all it takes is a few passionate students or faculty to bring it back. Only time will tell whether the DHS song will resurrect once more or fade into the past.
