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School song

The King Edward's school song was written by Alfred Hayes, O.E. (1857-1936); composed by A. Somervell and first sung by Jerome O'Neill in 1937.

Click 'play' on the icon below to hear the school song being sung by Old Edwardians who attended the school's Biennial Dinner on 18th September 2010.  The words to the song can also be found below. If the player is not visible, it may be incompatible with your browser. Please open this page in Internet Explorer. 

King Edward's School Song

Where the iron heart of England throbs beneath its sombre robe,
Stands a school whose sons have made her great and famous round the globe,
These have plucked the bays of battle, those have won the scholar's crown;
Old Edwardians, young Edwardians, forward for the School's renown.

                                   Chorus:

Forward where the knocks are hardest, some to failure, some to fame;
Never mind the cheers or hooting, keep your head and play the game.

Here's no place for fop or idler; they who made our city great
Feared no hardship, shirked no labour, smiled at death and conquered fate;
They who gave our School its laurels laid on us a sacred trust;
Forward therefore, live your hardest, die of service, not of rust.

                                   Chorus

Forward where the scrimmage thickens; never stop to rub your shin;
Cowards count the kicks and ha'pence, only care to save their skin.
Oftentimes defeat is splendid, victory may still be shame;
Luck is good, the prize is pleasant but the glory's in the game.

                                   Chorus

The following verse (which was sung as the third verse) was dropped when the School moved from New Street to Edgbaston:

Here no classic grove secludes us, here abides no cloistered calm;
Not the titled, nor the stranger, wrestles here to gain the palm;
Round our smoke-encrusted precincts labour's turbid river runs;
Builders of this burly city temper here their strenuous sons.