The Engineering Hymn is a sung across Canada by engineers with many different versus and variations. Inspired by Lady Godiva and her sadness at the plight of the poor in 11th century England the hymn recounts the tale of Godiva’s husband, Leofric, who was a man of power and could have alleviated the suffering inflicted on the destitute, had he wanted to do so. He agreed to lower taxes at the request of his lovely wife, but only if she would ride a horse completely naked through the streets of Coventry, thinking that she would not go through with it. She did, but before her ride, she told the villagers of her plan and asked that they not watch her. Since then, Godiva’s legendary courage has been the source of many works of art, including the Engineering Hymn.
Below are several versus of the Engineering Hymn as sung at Waterloo.
Sung to the tune of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
Chorus:
We are, we are, we are, we are, we are the Engineers;
We can, we can, we can, we can demolish forty beers.
Drink rum, drink rum, drink rum, drink rum, so come along with us –
For we don’t give a damn for any damn man who don’t give a damn for us.
Disclaimer: During Orientation Week and public or community events the family friendly version of the chorus is used:
We are, we are, we are the Engineers
We can, we can, fix anything with gears
We work HARD, we play HARD, so come along with us…
For we don’t give a damn for any damn man who don’t give a damn for us!
Verses:
Godiva was a lady, who through Coventry did ride
To show to all the villagers her lovely bare white hide.
The most observant villager, an engineer of course,
Was the only one to notice that Godiva rode a horse.
Said she, “I’ve come a long, long way, and I will go as far
With the man who takes me from this horse and leads me to a bar.”
The men who took her from her steed and stood her to a beer
Were a blurry-eyed surveyor and a drunken engineer!
Godiva woke next morning and she had an awful head,
Decided to be sensible and spend the day in bed.
The only ones to visit her and bring her lots of cheer
Were the broken-down surveyor and the bloodshot engineer.
Godiva died, and where she fell a benchmark marks the spot –
In any engineering text its level can be got.
And up in heaven everyday Godiva craves for beer, but
She’ll have to wait until the gates let in the engineers!
An artsie and an engineer once found a gallon can.
Said the artsie, “Match me drink for drink, as long as you can stand.”
They drank three drinks, the artsie fell, his face was turning green:
But the engineer drank on and said, “It’s only gasoline.”
An artsie and an engineer were stranded on a boat.
One man above capacity; the poor thing would not float.
The engineer would flip a coin to settle the dispute,
So he flipped it in the water and the artsie gave pursuit.
A wide-eyed Artsie Chemist and a Chemical Engineer,
Were formulating molecule equations over beer.
Each drank a glass of water, but the Artsie hit the floor,
For what he thought was H20 was H2SO4.
I happened once upon a girl whose eyes were full of fire,
Her physical endowments would have made your hands perspire.
To my surprise she told me that she never had been kissed,
For her boyfriends had been artsies or computer scientists!
My father was a miner in the northern Malamute,
My mother was a mistress in a house of ill-repute.
They kicked me out at a tender age and never shed a tear –
They said, “Get out of here, you son-of-a-bitch, and join the engineers!”
When the Mechs are feeling tired and the Civils are worn out,
There’s just one place to go and that’s the bar, without a doubt.
So the next time that you drink an ice-cold, golden, frothy beer,
Get on your worthless knees and thank a Chemical Engineer.
The army and the navy boys went out to have some fun
Down at the local tavern where the fiery liquors run.
But all they found were empties, for the engineers had come
And traded all their instruments for gallon jugs of rum!
As legend goes an apple fell on Sir Issac’s head,
And Newtonian Mechanics then was born, took hold and spread.
Too bad he was a physicist and not an Engineer,
If he wore a hardhat, we’d have less class and more beer!
Sir Francis Drake and all his men set out for Calais Bay –
They’d heard the Spanish rum fleet would be headed up that way.
But the engineers had beat them by a night and half a day
And though as drunk as they could be, you still could hear them say…
Rapunzel let her hair down for two suitors down below,
So one of them could grab a hold and give the old heave-ho
The prince began to climb at once, but soon came out the worst,
For the Engineer rode up a lift, and reached Rapunzel first.
A man sat in a tavern with a lovely looking lass
And stared, when for the nineteenth time she raised and drained her glass.
He said “You’ve out-drunk four strong men, and half the bar, my dear.”
But the maiden smiled demurely and said, “I’m an engineer.”
An engineer once came to class so drunk and very late,
He stumbled through the lecture hall at an ever-diminishing rate.
The only things that held him up, and kept him on his course,
Were the boundary condition and electromotive force.
The firehose by day and fourty beers by night,
An Engineer may never sleep and still be just as bright.
And should you ever ask him how he keeps up his routine,
He’ll raise his trusty cup of Java, smile and say “Caffeine.”
Now you’ve heard our story and you know we’re Engineers.
We love to hate our problem sets, we love to drink our beers.
We drink to every person who comes here from far and near,
‘Cause we’re a HELL-OF-A, HELL-OF-A, HELL-OF-A, HELL-OF-A,
HELL-OF-AN ENGINEER!!!
