Again Economics in the Rear-View Mirror is happy to provide its readers with an undated Chicago economics department parody found in the files of Milton Friedman. While I can say with complete confidence that the Chicago lyrics were written sometime between 1942 and 1955 (when the Cowles Commission moved on to New Haven), I figure this patriotic war-time tune might have declined in popularity and familiarity starting in the late 1940’s. Thus, for the sake of argument, I’ll just say the “Cowles Commission Song” was written ca. 1950.
Thank goodness for both YouTube and Archive.org and of course our old friend Google, I was able to find the original lyrics to the song “We Must Be Vigilant” and links to a movie rendition as well as this recording of the “We Must Be Vigilant” performed by Ziggy Lane and the the Chico Marx Orchestra. That’s right, Groucho’s older brother.
Perhaps someone will rise to the challenge of producing a Karaoke version of this Cowles Commission Song. Do we historians of economics know how to party or what?
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COWLES COMMISSION SONG |
WE MUST BE VIGILANT |
| Adapted from F.W. Meacham’s “American Patrol”. Music adapted by Joseph A. Burke. Words by Edgar Leslie. (1942) | |
| We must be rigorous, We must be rigorous, We must fulfill our role; If we hesitate Or equivocate, We won’t achieve our goal. We must investigate Our system, complicate To make our models whole; Econometrics brings about Statistical control. Our esoteric seminars |
We Must be Vigilant! We Must Be Vigilant! American Patrol! With arms for the army, Ships for the navy, Let this be our goal. We must be diligent! We must be diligent! American Patrol. Protect our shoreline To the door line Of ev’ry native soul. We need this solidarity |
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(repeat first 11 lines) |
Image Source: Mikael Uhlin’s Marxology at marx-brothers.org.
2 replies on “Chicago. The Cowles Commission Song. Ca. 1950.”
The song is printed in chapter 7 of Carl Christ: History of the Cowles Commission, published 1953, and posted on the web of the Cowles Foundation.
Thanks.
Here’s a
link to Christ’s History
Carl Christ liked the song enough to quote the lyrics in his 1994 JEL paper
“The Cowles’s Contributions to Econometrics at Chicago, 1939-1955.”
, pp. 34-35. Note that Christ dates the Chicago skit party at “about 1949”.
At least I was able to add the original lyrics that had been parodied along with links to the tune so that future generations of economists can sing along too.