Here is a little contribution for HazingPrevention Week. You can sing it to the tune of “Old Shep” or you can use any tune you want. I’m not copyrighting it. Feel free to use as you wish. You can change it from Rookie Night to Hell Night and use for your sorority or fraternity. You can fix some of the meter if you wish as well. Happy Hazing Prevention Week.
Rookie Night
by Hank Nuwer
When my boy Tom was a lad
He had him a pup
And they ran through the woods and the hay.
Wildflowers he oft carried
To the family plot where his mama lay buried.
But otherwise, he and Tramp ran wild all the day.
One night we had to visit the vet.
Tramp had run right where a rattler set.
The vet wanted to put him down
But my son begged him not to quit
And with Tramp all night Tom and that vet did sit
Y’know, my boy’s faith saved his young hound.
Ten years passed by too fast
Tom, he went to college at last
And wouldn’t you know that young fool
Told me he wanted Tramp with him at school.
Said the two of them would have them a blast.
So I said yes, what else could I do?
Now, you see I don’t have much education
I was off in Vietnam fighting for my nation.
So when he said he was playing club lacrosse
I just grew quiet as a mouse
I was afraid he might have the wrong kinda fun
I’d kept him too protected; he’s my only son.
Then one fall day in the middle of the night
The phone rang and it gave me a fright.
It was Dean Such and Such speaking real polite.
I’ll never forget those terse words that he said.
He said we found your boy just now in his bed.
There was a hazing party; now he’s dead.
All his friends from the team came to his wake.
Truth to tell it was their necks, not their hands I wanted to shake.
How damn much can one man take?
But I saw the grief in their eyes
And I knew from all their sighs.
That they saw they’d made a grave mistake.
Tramp and I brought my boy home to our farm
We buried him next to his mama in the shade of the barn.
Now each and every night
Faithful Tramp sleeps there in the moonlight.
That dog’s gotten old and soon heaven will be his home
And there once again Tom and his dog can roam.