Pete Seeger
The Ballad of Sherman Wu
As I was out walking the streets of Northwestern
I spied a young freshman dejected and blue
And so when I asked him, "Why are you dejected?"
He said, "I'm Chinese and I can't join Psi U!"
"I see by your frat pin that you are a Psi U
If I had a frat pin I'd be one too
If I had a frat pin then I'd be a Psi U
I can't have a frat pin cause I'm Sherman Wu"
The dean said, "Now Sherman, don't make a commotion
It's wrong to wash laundry in public you know
The SGB soon will be making a motion
Condemning the action that bothers you so"
Now they still haven't made a Psi U out of Sherman
Cause Jack Lageschulte said Wu had to go
If he were just Jewish, or Spanish, or German
But he's so damn Chinese the whole campus would know
As I was out walking the streets of Northwestern
I spied a young freshman dejected and blue
And so when I asked him, "Why are you dejected?"
He said, "I'm Chinese and I can't join Psi U!"