Does your official state song...? (1 Viewer)

[Henry Gale]

....suck.

EDIT:I searched and found that at least 7 other threads use the word "suck" in the topic. Pretty rough language ...that has been removed from this one.



Just read the lyrics to Texas, Our Texas and...in over 30 years here I can't say I've ever heard it sung, or played.
Then I checked on the Indiana (my birth state) song, which is just weird.
It starts out with an idylic description of the place as it might have looked many years ago, then goes into the singers lament that, not only is his mother dead but so is dear Mary who did not take his proposal on the banks of the Wabash seriously.
Some of the states have GREAT songs, Georgia for instance.
Some have more than one.

http://www.50states.com/songs/

 

[Mike Frezon]

Henry:

All the great songs written about New York...and our state song is "I Love New York" from the old tourism ad campaign written back in the 1970s. Pretty mundane...but probably nationally known.

I thought the state song of New York was the Sidewalks of New York. I think there has been discussion of switching to (The Theme from) New York, New York. You know, "Start spreading the news.....".

There's, of course, New York, New York (from On the Town--"The Bronx is up and the Battery's down. The people ride in a hole in the ground.") And, there's Billy Joel's New York State of Mind.

But, no. We've got "I Love New York".

I would have bet money that Texas' state song would have been The Yellow Rose of Texas.

 

[Henry Gale]

No, perhaps because it's about a mulatto hooker.

I would have guessed "The Eyes of Texas".

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oh.

I guess you're one of those people that pays attention to lyrics.












Did I mention that at my workplace I get to hear "I Love NY" maybe a dozen times a week (usually more) each week?! Lucky me!

 

[David Williams]

My home state's song (OK) doesn't suck since it's a classic Broadway show tune. It is a bit, how shall I say it, inappropriately funny (especially if they use the prologue) but it does have a great finish.

I grew up in Alaska and the state song there is pretty with a bit of patriotic flair but not anything special.

My mother is gonna kill me for this one: The suckiest state song has to be, hands down, Iowa. They use O Tannebaum as the music!

OTOH, Georgia has the best state song.

 

[ChristopherDAC]

No, The Eyes of Texas is the UT fight song, and the Aggies wouldn't have it. I aver, in Elementary School we did sing and hear the state song a few times, and I could actually sing it if provided with the full words.

and so on.

 

[Mike Frezon]

The R & H Estate are such sticklers...I wonder how the state government of Oklahoma ever wrangled that?!

David: I've always mistaken you for a MA guy (inner reaches of John Adams' mind)...and now I come to find out you are from AK by way of OK.

And, um, you may be right about Iowa's state song:


"purpling"?!

 

[MatthewA]

I'm moving to Virginia this summer, thus I won't have a state song, only a "state song emeritus."

Maryland also uses "O Tannenbaum" as the melody to "Maryland, My Maryland."

 

[Jed M]

I always liked my home state of Kansas's state song, "Home on the Range".

 

[David Williams]

They have my condolences. Melodies that make you think of the holiday season are best left there.

 

[Andrew 'Ange Hamm' Hamm]

MatthewA, apparently "Shenandoah" is the "temporary" state song for Virginia. I'm not sure how they're going to improve on it, but there you go.

Mike Frezon, how can you be from Rensselaer (where I used to work while I lived in Albany) and have no problem with every song about New York implying that the state stops where the City ends? All those songs are street/sidewalk/city sort of things and you live in one of the most beautiful river valleys in the nation, just spittin' distance from some of the most beautiful mountains and orchards in the nation! Just a couple hours from the Fingerlakes, even!

Pet Peeve alert: I hate the attitude that the only part of New York State that matters is the City. Sigh.

[/rant]

 

[Mike Frezon]

Are there really antelope in Kansas? And, c'mon...you guys NEVER get clouds during the day?!

 

[Jed M]

Yeah, and Fred Phelps kinda killed our "seldom is heard a discouraging word" part too. :frowning:

For the record there are Antelope in Kansas, and to my knowledge they do in fact play with the deer all day.

 

[Mike Frezon]

The things you learn while participating in a state song thread on a home theater site! I had never heard of Fred Phelps in my life...but his Wikipedia entry is both huge and vile! A discouraging word, indeed!

Back onto state songs, I just saw that Connecticut's state song is....Yankee Doodle. This is significant as Yankee Doodle was actually written in...Rensselaer, NY! That is my hometown's claim to fame. Yankee Doodle was written by British Army Surgeon Dr. Richard Shuckberg in 1755 at Fort Crailo (lots of Dutch heritage in this area) in Rensselaer, NY.

 

[Paul McElligott]

California's state song is "I Love You, California." Didn't see that coming, did we?

Never heard of the song. Never heard it. Don't care to, either. Frankly, my official song would still be The Beach Boys' "California Girls" but that's just me.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Yes, my state has the best official state song. During the '96 Olympics, however, I heard Georgia On My Mind so often I was beginning to get tired of it. I did love Gladys Knight's rendition at the Opening Ceremony, though.

 

[Henry Gale]

Another surprise, I would have bet money it was, "California, Here I Come".

 

[Kevin T]

alabama's state song is "we will rock you" by queen. luckily, queen was chosen as the next option was "pour some sugar on me" by def leppard.

kevin t

 

[Alf S]

Haha ! Another OK via Alaska guy here too ...howdy!

 

[David Williams]

I'd move back there in a heartbeat... They pay you to live there (oil investment dividends), there is no state sales tax and it's a virtual paradise on par with British Columbia in the summertime.