July 9 Learning All Those Songs

By this point at camp, we probably would have been exposed to and expected to know more than a dozen songs. This would include anthems, ballads, team songs and graces. And we didn't have the benefit of written song sheets. (We always seemed to get those as mementos at the end of the summer.) We just had to absorb the myriad lyrics. Since we all desperately wanted to assimilate into camp culture as quickly as possible, we all plunged right into the singing. This produced some mixed results. Because, (by my estimate) at least 25% of the population were new campers, you could never be quite sure if the girls sitting next to you were singing the correct lyrics. So, the safe bet was just to sing what you thought they were singing. It was sort of like the "telephone game." Consequently, entire songs had lyrics that were sung incorrectly for years. The fact that the majority of the girls sang with New York accents, so you couldn't hear any "r's", only compounded the problem.The most notorious of these songs was "High Upon". Most of us sang the lyrics as:
High upon a lonely, lofty mountaintop, there is a camp we love.
Where Old Nature smiles and lifshuhleefy ahms (I had no idea what this meant!)
True as the heavens above.
Round our campfire's ready gleam
Love and friendship reign supreme
High upon a lonely lofty mountaintop, there is a camp we love

Here are the correct lyrics:
High upon a lone and lofty mountaintop. there is a camp we love
Where all Nature smiles and lifts her leafy arms
To azure heavens above.
Round our campfire's ruddy gleam
Love and friendship reign supreme
High upon a lone and lofty mountaintop, there is a camp we love

So, all you Lenorites out there, you now can sing this with the full confidence that you at last know the correct words!