How WSSU Adapted A Floating Verse From Spirituals To Create Its Song "It's So Hard To Be A Ram"

Artistry Photography, Oct. 23, 2012
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This video begins with Winston Salem State University's cheerleaders throwing (performing) the cheer "Go SU Go".  

From around .26 to 1:28 in this video, the cheerleaders sing "It's So Hard To Be A Ram" along with other people at the football game. That singing is an expression of school spirit and school pride. The song is led by a man in the stands and begins before the cheerleaders finished one of their cheers.   

People seated in the football stands (bleachers) sing while performing individual hand claps, waving one hand back and forth to the beat, and doing other non-cheerleader associated motions. The cheerleaders also perform these motions while standing on the football field.

Meanwhile, the football game continues. The announcer reports some actions in that game and WSSU's band plays a different song than "It's So Hard To Be A Ram". 

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a video that includes an example of Winston Salem State University (WSSU) 's song "It's So Hard To Be A Ram" . Other links to online examples of  YouTube videos that includes this song are also included to this post.

Partial lyrics to WSSU's song "It's So Hard To Be A Ram" are included in this post (I can't decipher the second verse that is sung for this song in that video and in other videos). 

This post also points out that the first verse* and probably other verses to "It's So Hard To Be A Ram" are adaptations of floating verses that are found in certain African American Spirituals. An example of one of those Spirituals are included in this post. 

My speculations and quotes from two online sites about the meaning of "It's so hard to be a Ram" are also included in this pancocojams post. 

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The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composers of the floating verses for the Spirituals and for WSSU's song. Thanks also to all those who are featured in this embedded video and all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this embedded video on YouTube.
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*The words for the chorus of WSSU's song "It's So Hard To Be A Ram" are also adaptations of certain Spirituals. Also, the tune for that chorus is similar to the tune that is used for the Spiritual "Jesus Is A Rock In A Weary Land" and certain other Spirituals. However, in my opinion, that first verse's adaptation is far easier to recognize than the chorus' adaptation.  
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Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with WSSU and I have never heard this song sung other than in YouTube video clips.

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PARTIAL LYRICS FOR WINSTON SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY SONG "IT'S SO HARD TO BE A RAM"

[Chorus]
Oooo Oooo

It's so hard to be a RAM 
It's so hard to be a RAM
It's so hard to be a R. A. M. S.
RAMS!

Verse #1

Lead - I wouldn't be an Eagle [or insert another team's name]
Others- No!
I'll tell you the reason why
Others- Why! Why! Why!
Lead- 'Cause I was a Ram all of my life
And I'll be a Ram till the day that I die

Chorus

Verse #2
???

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The second verse and other verses for that song have the same structure as the first verse, but I haven't been able to decipher most of those words to that verse.  

The only words that I can decipher in the second verse that is sung in this embedded video (and in some other WSSU videos) are:
Lead- ???? 
I'll tell you what I'll do
Others- What! What! What!
Lead- ????
???? SSU

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It's likely that there are fixed words for that second verse, just like the words to the first verse have become fixed. However, since lyrics to African American Spirituals were traditionally improvised, since WSSU's song "It's So Hard To Be A Ram" was based on Spirituals, it's possible that some lyrics to that song can also be improvised.

Here's a verse that I've made up that fits the spirit and structure of WSSU's song "It's So Hard To Be A Ram":   

Lead- When I get to heaven
I'll tell you what I'll do
Others- What? What? What?
Lead- I'll walk around those streets of gold
That look like SSU

For the historical record, please share the words to "It's So Hard To Be A Ram" that you know along with demographic information (whether you attend/attended WSSU and when you learned that version of that song. Thanks! 

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INFORMATION AND COMMENTS ABOUT WSSU'S "IT'S SO HARD TO BE A RAM" SONG (AND  SAYING)

A number of Winston Salem State University YouTube videos, and online articles feature the  "It's So Hard To Be A Ram" saying & song. Winston Salem University (WSSU) is a historically Black university that is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. That song and saying are bragging expressions of the pride that WSSU students and others  have for that university.

WSSU's athletic teams are called the Rams. By extension, in the "It's So Hard To Be A Ram" song, "Rams" refers to students and others who are associated with that university. My guess is that "It's so hard to be a Ram" means that Rams are an exclusive "club" of successful people that it's not easy to be a part of.  If it were "easy to be a Ram", then anybody could be like them. But because it's hard to be a Ram, few people can meet the standards and legacy of success that WSSU has.  
 
Here are two comments https://www.unigo.com/colleges/winston-salem-state-university/reviews which express these points: 

"emani

Attending Winston-Salem State University was one of the best decisions I've ever made. It's a great well rounded school, and the atmosphere there is undefeated nor can it be found on any other campus. I love the people, the environment, and the opportunity WSSU provides. Each and every day I see why it's so hard to be a ram! Go rams!!"

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"Jada

I love my school overall!!! It may not be a luxurious or big as other schools, but that doesn't matter because my HBCU is the real deal. At my school were ramily (ram family). We look out for each other and don't let anyone else come for us because then you got the whole school coming for them. Academically I know that some professors are doing their job because they want to see us make so they stay on top of us about being in class and doing our work to pass. We have our flaws, but who doesn't. The school system and the people who work there sometimes make me angry but I wouldn't trade the school for the anything else. This is where my heart and my home is and our culture is true and real which I don't see anywhere else."
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Here's an excerpt from that provides some information about WSSU's saying "It's So Hard To Be A Ram" from
https://hbcugameday.com/2017/08/21/so-hard-to-be-a-ram-why-are-you-here-wssu-football/ "DOCUMENTARIES: So Hard To Be A Ram: Why Are You Here?" By Steven J. Gaither, Posted on August 21, 2017
...."The title of the web-series/documentary “So Hard To Be A Ram” comes from the school’s unofficial fight song. It was also the title of an earlier documentary shot 10 years ago by my late friend Jonathan Wedlock, a former football player who passed away earlier this year way too soon. This is a tribute to him as much as anything."...

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THREE LINKS TO BRIEF CLIPS OF ITS SO HARD TO BE A RAM" IN OTHER YOUTUBE VIDEOS
The links to these videos are given in no particular order.
1. From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch1hxwY-rrU&ab_channel=DrLock1007
"So Hard To Be a Ram (Movie Preview)
DrLock1007, May 9, 2007
[0 -.30 in this video]

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2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjx8IrRp0t0&ab_channel=ArtistryPhotography

2014 WSSU Homecoming Cheerleaders, So Hard to Be a R.A.M.
Artistry Photography, Oct 18, 2014
[0-.47 in this video]

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3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J6TYEy01Nw&ab_channel=HBCUGameday "So Hard To Be A Ram: No. 1 with a Bullet"

HBCUGameday, Aug 30, 2017
[0-.22 in this video]

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DEFINITION OF "FLOATING VERSES"
Here's a definition of "floating verses" from  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_blues_verses
"Traditional blues verses in folk-music tradition have also been called floating lyrics or maverick stanzas. Floating lyrics have been described as “lines that have circulated so long in folk communities that tradition-steeped singers call them instantly to mind and rearrange them constantly, and often unconsciously, to suit their personal and community aesthetics”...
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"Floating Verses" is a term that has been mostly used to refer to Blues. However, that term can also be used to refer to certain verses that are found in Spirituals and Gospel and the same or other verses that are found in children's recreational rhymes, and/or other genres of music. 

"I would not be a sinner" is the first line for the WSSU song "It's So Hard To Be A Ram". That verse is a very common floating verse in certain African American Spirituals.

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ONE EXAMPLE OF AN AFRICAN AMERICAN SPIRITUAL THAT INCLUDES THE FLOATING VERSE THAT WAS ADAPTED FOR THIS WSSU SONG

JESUS IS A ROCK IN A WEARY LAND (African American Gospel)
(Chorus)
Jesus is a rock in a weary land
A weary land
A weary land
Jesus is a rock in a weary land
A shelter in the time of storm

Verse #1
I would not be a sinner.
I'll Tell You The reason why.
I'm afraid my Lord might call my name.
And I wouldn't Be ready to die."
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/12/david-w-carter-choir-jesus-is-rock-in.html for the pancocojams post entitled "David W. Carter Choir- "Jesus Is A Rock In A Weary Land" (African American Gospel song with contemporary lyrics & with older lyrics for this song)".

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