"Grand Old Flag" is based on American patriotic song "You're a Grand Old Flag" by George M Cohen. It was written in 1906 for the stage musical 'George Washington Jr.' Cohen also wrote Yankee Doodle Dandy, later adapted for Hawthorn's theme song.
The song was first sung by Melbourne players on a trip to Hobart in 1912, and the second verse was written by Keith "Bluey" Truscott after the 1939 premiership.
In his history of the club published in 1958, ECH Taylor describes the crowd singing the song after the 1926 Grand Final victory as if "they were reviving an old, almost forgotten battle song".
First Verse
It's a grand old flag, it's a high-flying flag
It's the emblem for me and for you
It's the emblem of the team we love
The team of the red and the blue
Every heart beats true, for the red and the blue
And we sing this song to you
(what do we sing)
Should old acquaintance be forgot
Keep your eye on the red and the blue
Second Verse
Oh, the team played fine in the year Thirty-Nine,
We're the Demons that no one can lick, lick, lick
And you'll find us there at the final bell
With the spirit of Twenty-Six, Six, Six
Every heart beats true, for the red and the blue
And we sing this song to you
(what do we sing)
Should old acquaintance be forgot
Keep your eye on the red and the blue
Notes
The second verse may have been written in 1940, adapted from a version which read;
''Now the Tigers they are haughty in the year 1940
But the Demons would not be licked
And we found them ahead at the final bell,
With the spirt of twenty six