The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi

THE WRITERS

Written in 1911 by two undergraduates at Albion College in Michigan, “The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi” has become the most popular college fraternity song in history. The site of the writing of the song was Dickie Hall on the campus of Albion. Byron D. Stokes, Albion 1913, wrote the words one June day while in class. He took the words to his Sigma Chi Brother F. Dudleigh “Dud” Vernor, who was practicing the organ in the campus chapel; Vernor completed the music that day. It was written for the 25th Anniversary Reunion in June 1911 of Alpha Pi Chapter. It was first sung by Harry H. Clifford, Albion 1911, who designed the drawing on the original sheet music, published by Richard Vernor, Albion 1913, brother of Dud Vernor.

Stokes was asked by many people “Who is the girl who was the inspiration?” He answered it was no one in particular. “The `Sweetheart’ is the symbol for the spiritual ingredient in brotherhood. It was the Sigma Chi Fraternity itself that inspired the song. I wrote the words not long after my initiation, and the magic of our Ritual with its poetic overtones and undertones was, I suppose, the source of my inspiration.”

Stokes later served Sigma Chi during the years 1916-1920 as Executive Secretary, Grand Editor, and Grand Historian, and retired in Pasadena, California. Vernor was organist for the Metropolitan Methodist Church in Detroit for over 50 years. Ironically, although the two collaborated on this classic song while undergraduates, they never saw each other after college: “Our paths simply have never crossed,” Vernor said in 1955. However, the two collaborated on at least two other Sigma Chi songs: “The Fellowship Song” and “I’m Glad I’m a Sigma Chi”; the latter was dedicated to Sigma Chi Brothers who fought in World War I. (Both songs are included with other Sigma Chi songs at this site.) Both died in 1974, Vernor at the age of 81 and Stokes at the age of 87. (See also The Centennial History of Sigma Chi: 1855-1955 by Robert M. Collett, pp. 279-281, and History of the Sigma Chi Fraternity by Douglas Richard Carlson, pp. 368-370.)

Just about every Sigma Chi knows the first verse and the chorus of “The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi,” but how many of you know the second verse!

THE RECORDINGS

Although “The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi” was popular when it was written and in the years following, the more popular recorded versions of the song were in late 1927 and early 1928. The most popular version was by Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians, a “glee club” type of group which was extremely popular in the 1920’s and 1930’s (with hits such as “Sleep” (1923), “Memory Lane” (1924), “Laugh, Clown, Laugh” (1928), “Little White Lies” (1930) and “I Found a Million-Dollar Baby in a Five-and-Ten-Cent Store” (1931)). In November of 1927, the Sweetheart Song entered the “Top Ten,” rising to #3 in December; it stayed in the top ten for seven weeks.

Almost as popular as Waring’s recording was one by Gene Austin, the most popular singer between 1925-1930. Austin was born in Gainesville, Texas, in 1900 and began his entertainment career in vaudeville. When he gained nationwide popularity in 1925, he was known as “The Voice of the Southland.” His recording of “My Blue Heaven,” the biggest-selling, non-holiday song before rock and roll, was popular at the same time as his version of “The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.”

THE SONG

Verse 1
When the world goes wrong, as it’s bound to do
And you’ve broken Dan Cupid’s bow.
And you long for the girl you used to love
The maiden of long ago.
Why, light your pipe, bid sorrow avaunt
Blow the smoke from your altar of dreams
And wreathe the face of your dream girl there
The love that is just what it seems

Refrain
The girl of my dreams is the sweetest girl
Of all the girls I know.
Each sweet coed, like a rainbow trail
Fades in the afterglow.
The blue of her eyes and the gold of her hair
Are a blend of the western skies;
And the moonlight beams on the girl of my dreams
She’s the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi.

Verse 2
Ev’ry magic breeze wafts a kiss to you
From the lips of your “sweet sixteen.”
And one by one the maids you knew
Bow to your Meerschaum Queen.
As the years drift by on the tides of time,
And they all have forgotten but you,
Then the girl of your dreams the sweeter seems,
She’s the girl who is always true.