Anchors Aweigh Charles Adams Zimmermann

Words by CAPT Alfred H. Miles, USN Music by 2LT Charles A. Zimmermann, USMC.

2LT Charles Adams Zimmermann, USMC, a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, had been selected as the bandmaster of the Naval Academy Band in 1887 at the age of 26. His father, Charles G. Zimmermann, had played in the band during the Civil War years. Early in his career, Bandmaster Zimmermann started the practice of composing a march for each graduating class. By 1892, "Zimmy", as he was affectionately known by the midshipmen, became so popular that he was presented with a gold medal by that year's class.

More gold medals followed as Zimmermann wrote a march for each succeeding class. Midshipman First Class Alfred Hart Miles, a member of the Class of 1907, approached Bandmaster Zimmermann with a request for a new march. Miles and his classmates "were eager to have a piece of music that would be inspiring, one with a swing to it so it could be used as a football marching song, and one that would live forever." Supposedly, with the two men seated at the Naval Academy Chapel organ, Zimmermann composed the tune and Miles set the title and wrote the two first stanzas. This march, "Anchor's Aweigh", was subsequently dedicated to the Academy Class of 1907.

To fill vacant officer billets in the fleet, the Class of 1907 graduated in three sections, with the first graduation held in February 1906. This placed the Class Supper in October 1905 and as was the tradition, it is possible that the Class March, “Anchors Aweigh” was performed that night. The first mention of a performance of “Anchors Aweigh” was at the Class of 1907 Farewell Ball on February 12, 1906. This march was played by the band and sung by the brigade at the 1906 Army-Navy football game, and for the first time since 1900, Navy won. Midshipman Royal Lovell, Class of 1926, wrote a third stanza. Later, George D. Lottman wrote the popular verses that were widely used until 1997 when the Master Chief of the Navy, John Hagen, slightly revised these verses to be more inclusive of all naval personnel.

No original manuscript of “Anchor's Aweigh” has been found. The oldest known manuscript is a full band arrangement by 1LT Adolf Torovsky, USMC dated 1926. It is currently held in the U.S. Naval Academy Archives.

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TEXT CREDIT: US Naval Academy Band

Happy Mother's Day

Many More Mother's Day Images - Mother's day: its history, origin, celebration, spirit, and significance as related in prose and verse Moffart, Yard & Company, 1915.

The arrival of this newcomer, Mothers' Day, in the calendar of our national festivals is significant. That a day so rich in sentiment, so tender in its meaning, should be officially adopted in a country which scoffs at sentiment and prides itself on its veneer of practicality is a hopeful sign. Like the divining rod of old usage it reveals underneath the crust of commercialism a perennial spring of idealism.

Although the formal designation of a specific day as Mothers' Day was but recently made in this country, we find in turning the pages of history that the idea rests, like so many of our customs, upon an ancient foundation. It strikes deep roots into universal truth and emotion. Mother-love antedates the Christian religion. Mother-worship, with its own rites and ceremonies, reaches back into pagan times.

Our earliest record of formal mother-worship is in the stories of the ceremonies by which Cybele, or Rhea, "The Great Mother of the Gods," was worshiped in Asia Minor. In her worship it was the power and majesty of motherhood rather than its tender maternal spirit that the wild dances and wilder music celebrated. Cybele was represented as traversing the mountains in a chariot drawn by lions. The lion, the oak and the pine were sacred to her.

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