UCSD's Fight Song - A History

This article was originally published in the UCSD Quarterly vol. 7, no. 3 - Summer 1984

Despite UCSD's tender age, the archives sometimes give up interesting material. For example, verses for a school song, written by Sam Hinton but apparently never published, were found on University of California, San Diego letterhead listing Clark Kerr as university president and Building B as the address for UCSD's administration.

(Building B was the original designation given to what is now Urey Hall. At one time the building housed the majority of the UCSD administrative offices including that of the chancellor and most of the vice chancellors).

Hinton, an internationally known singer and composer of folk songs who once travelled with the Major Bowes Vaudeville Troupe, joined the UC system in 1944 as an editor-illustrator in the Division of War Research. Two years later he became director of the Scripps aquarium-museum, a position he held for 18 years. In 1964 he was named director of the Office of Relations with Schools (with an office in Building B) representing UCSD in all dealings with high schools, community colleges and other educational institutions. He retired from the university in 1980.

According to Hinton, the song verses were written in 1964 at the request of Dr. Ted Forbes, UCSD's first dean of students. Forbes was taking a group of students to a meeting (probably involving students from all the UC campuses) and he was concerned that UCSD didn't have a song. He suggested "Vive L'Amour" as a tune since the students would probably be singing it anyway.

What follows is what Hinton titled "Some Possible Verses for the 'Vive L'Amour' Song..."