Americans, do you know your state song?
Asked by
Jeruba (
56062)
April 17th, 2012
(a) Do you know what it is?
Here’s a list.
(b) Do you know the words?
(c) Have you ever sung it at all?
(d) Would you know it if you heard it?
(e) What state do you live in?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
35 Answers
Damn, Tennessee sure has a lot of songs. I know Rocky Top by heart because it seems like you can’t go anywhere in my town without hearing it blasted from every speaker everywhere all day, every day.
No to all of them, and thanks to you I’ve now observed Oregon’s song.
Negative, and nor do I care :/
I know On Wisconsin from when I was growing up, I have never heard the South Dakota state song, and didn’t even know what its name was before looking at the list.
I would have said “no” until I saw the cheat sheet.
“I love New York.” Not a golden oldie, I guess
Heh. I didn’t even know we had a state song.
Also in Oregon, never really knew we had one.
My guess for CA is “California Here I Come”.
Hmmm, it’s “I Love You California”. One of the writers is AF Frankenstein.
You think AF would have written something like, “Californa- GOOD! Other states- BAD!” ;-)
@Brian1946
“You think….”
You’d think….
A half-hour edit time limit sure would be nice.
Wow, when you asked, the name came to me, Maryland, My Maryland, but I could not recall the tune or the words. I have sung it, but more than 40 years ago as part of high school choir.
Hah! Nope, didn’t even know we had a state song!
I will be living in Florida in about a week.
I never knew my former state’s song was Hail Massachusetts. All these years, I thought it was “Hell, Massachusetts”.
I’m from MO. Didn’t know there were state songs. All these years.
Connie Frances sang Beautiful Ohio and I recognize the melody easily but couldn’t tell you a single lyric. I can sing the state songs from a number of other states, however (KY, CT, GA, KS, VA, and OK).
I didn’t know state songs existed.
I would recognize it only because two of my grandkids sang it for a school program; I looked it up for them and foun d a music file to play, and listened to them rehearse it.:-)
The only one I knew was NY. I do know two of the TN songs, and one of the FL songs, but I did not know they are considered state songs.
I have lived in MD, NY, FL, TN, MI, and NC.
I know state nicknames and mottos much better. I used to know state flowers, but have forgotten them. Forgot a lot of the Capitals too. Getting old….
@all: Hmm, interesting. You do know, don’t you, that states also have official state nicknames, birds, flowers, trees, and various other emblems? Didn’t you have to do state reports when you were in fifth grade?
[Edit: I was addressing most of the above responses, @JLeslie, and didn’t mean just to point at you. I’m not surprised that people don’t know the songs (neither do I), but I am surprised that people didn’t know states had them.]
@Jeruba I touched on that in my response. I was thinking that I am pretty sure I only learned, was tested on, the state bird, flower, motto, for the state I lived in. I do not remember ever being taught the state song. The Capitols I had to memorize for every state, and the two letter postal codes for all the states.
@Jeruba Oh, no problem, I was not trying to say you overlooked me. I was just agreeing with your line of thought.
No to all of them, I didn’t even know the title to mine! Maryland’s song is quite repetitive though, and it would probably get pretty annoying, so I guess I’m glad.
I knew there were state flowers, but who knew there were state songs?
I don’t think I would recognize most of the state flags either, except Maryland, that one I know and MS. MD it is basically on the licence plate, the coat of arms, or was, I don’t know their current plate. Recently I was in MS with my parents and my dad pointed out the confederate flag was waving proudly in a public place, and I told him it isn’t the confederate flag, it must be the state flag. I looked it up, and it was. So I now recognize MS state’s flag. The rest I am clueless
On Wisconsin is our state song. Yes, it is sung at every Badger game. I don’t recall all of the words, but they show them on the screen ;)
Oh and BTW our state dance is the polka. Yes, I know how to dance it. Yes, I can sing the Beer Barrel Polka! :)
I don’t know any song for Michigan but it’s known as the Great Lakes State and the Wolverine State.
Yes, I know Hawai’i Pono’i. I have sung it on numerous occasions and love it. It was written by King David Kalakaua as the national anthem and has been retained as the state anthem.
@Trillian If you go to the OP’s link you can find the MI song. I didn’t recognize it. When I lived there the slogan was Yes Michigan! Now it is Pure Michigan. Not sure what I think about the latter one. I call it the Great Lakes state, being a Spartan and all.
Nope. Didn’t even know states had songs until the seventh grade. Pretty pathetic if you ask me.
I would have guessed “My Maryland”, so I was close. I don’t remember the words, or even if I ever knew them to begin with, though. I do know the MD flower is the Black Eyed Susan, and I think the MD bird is the Cardinal. I have no clue about any of it for my current state, WV.
@augustlan: West Virginia reminds me of the John Denver song –
Take me home, country roads,
to a place
I belong
West Virginia
Mountain mama
take me home
Country roads
I know the city song by heart, “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra
I didn’t know the NYS song before looking at it, and when I lived in PA, I was not aware that there was an actual song called “Pennsylvania”.
May I address the state I grew up in and not the one where I live now? If so, it’s Virginia. History lessons in 4th grade were devoted to Virginia’s. US and World history classes came later, and then government in high school. And yes, I was aware that all states have mottoes, emblems, etc.
I can name almost all of Virginia’s, except for song. (I would have guessed Dixieland, which is fairly popular.) While familiar with the song title and tune, the lyrics not so much. I just watched Carry Me Back to Old Virginny on YouTube. After reading the history on the song, it’s shocking that there hasn’t been a push to have it changed.
Edit: Ah, and indeed there has. “CMBTOV” was adopted as the state song in 1940. Even at that point, there were objections over the lyrics. The same objections came up several times over the years, and it wasn’t until 1997 that it became state song emeritus. A contest was held in 1998 to select a new state song, which was later put on hold. It doesn’t look like a new one has been chosen.
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