The Good Old Song
song
"The Good Old Song" (alternatively spelled as "The Good Ole Song") is the de facto school song of the University of Virginia. It is often said to be the university's fight song, although the actual fight song is "The Cavalier Song". It is set to the music of "Auld Lang Syne", a song frequently sung on New Year's Eve.
The "Good Old Song" is most commonly sung by Virginia Cavaliers fans following sporting events. Fans embrace as they sway back and forth, singing the first verse of the song, followed by pumping fists while screaming the chant. It is also sung at football games immediately following each Cavalier score (or the extra point attempt).
History and authorship
Various sources ascribe the authorship of "The Good Old Song" to Virginia Glee Club member Edward A. Craighill circa 1895 even though Craighill's 1922 article on the song disclaims sole authorship. The best documentary evidence to date indicates that the song's lyrics were more or less spontaneously composed by a group of students in 1893, and that by 1894 the song was already being documented in the student annual, Corks and Curls.
"The Good Old Song" was the university's de facto school song by 1900. Student referendums over the years have purported to give significance to other songs on occasion — "Virginia, Hail, All Hail!" and "The Cavalier Song" won a 1923 contest sponsored by the student newspaper, The Cavalier Daily, and were named the university's alma mater song and fight song, respectively — but they failed to gain traction and remain relatively unknown among the general student body unless they try again to make it known by gaining traction again.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Good Old Song” as song. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as song. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7737263. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1895, 1922, 1893 and 1894.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Good Old Song” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.