One of Steely Dan's most well known songs is "My Old School." So, it's no surprise that I had that song in my head as I was walking through the campus of William and Mary College, with the phrase, "Wo-no, William and Mary won't do" looping through constantly. But, though I have heard the song many, many times, I still didn't have a good understanding of what the song meant, and why William and Mary factored into it.
A web site sheds some light on the song's inspiration and meaning. The group Steely Dan is a progressive rock group that has a lot of jazz and other influences in their work. The two main players are Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, who met at Bard College at Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. It is there that they studied and graduated from. More on this in a bit.
From the Wikipedia entry for the album, Countdown to Ecstasy, released in 1973, which has this song on it, the inspiration for the song came from an incident while they were in college. In May 1969, Fagen, Becker, their girlfriends, and approximately 50 other students were arrested in a pot raid by the sheriff's deputies. Due to the weakness of the case, the charges were dropped, but not before being harassed. Apparently, Bard College was involved, somehow, and Fagen was so upset that he refused to attend graduation. In 1995, Fagen received an honorary doctorate from the college, apparently making peace with his old alma mater.
The song, itself, definitely says, "William and Mary" in it, but the main clue that it was actually about Bard are the three references to "Annendale" in the song, which is the location of Bard College. The College of William and Mary is in Williamsburg.
So, why is "William and Mary" in there? Though several sites touch upon this topic, the best link from the William and Mary student publication, the Flat Hat, states that Bard College is often called the "William and Mary of the North." I have not been able to confirm this on other sites, at the moment. But, William and Mary College is, thus, indirectly referenced, at least. Also, it fits the structure of the song better than singing "Wo-no, Ba-har-hard College won't do." So, though most of the world thinks that the song is about The College of William and Mary in Virginia, it's not about THAT William and Mary, though everyone still understandably thinks that it is.
The spot selected is by a marker about the college on the edge of the campus where the three oldest buildings stand that date back to colonial times.
Sources:
Wikipedia (Steely Dan):
(
visit link)
(Countdown to Ecstasy):
(
visit link)
(Bard College):
(
visit link)
Songsmeanings.net (My Old School):
(
visit link)
Flat Hat (Loved of Old):
(
visit link)