STATE SONG
My wife and I enjoyed an extremely well done, outdoor brass and woodwind band event Saturday evening sponsored by our town’s Parks and Recreation Department. The conductor was humorous and added commentary to set up or explain the significance of several numbers. Beginning with “The Star-Spangled Banner” they played many marches and themes. They perfectly played the theme from Indiana Jones and the one from Star Wars for example. They honored members of each branch of the armed forces with the themes, ending with “America, The Beautiful.” They entertained us with “Turkey in the Straw” and “76 Trombones.” Several small children bounced joyfully and twirled with delight. Then they played “My Old Kentucky Home,” by Stephen Foster, the state song, almost everyone stood, men took off their ball caps, several placed hands over their hearts, and many sang the words from memory. It is a very singable song.
I compare that to Michigan, where I lived almost all my life. There I never once heard the OFFICIAL state song. [No, it’s not “Michigan, My Michigan,” which I heard a number of times. No one stood and few knew the words.] The actual official Michigan song is “My Michigan” by Kavanagh (actual spelling) and Clint. It was adopted in 1937 but Michigan never bought the rights so they couldn’t use it without paying royalties. (In my mind that is typical Michigan government.) It has NEVER been used for any formal government event. I found a “YouTube” rendition of the song…never heard it before.
With the headlines which only paint this country as dis-unified, the evening showed that we ARE unified. We are strong. We are patriotic. We hold certain ideas and values strongly together. WE ARE AMERICANS! And those in this crowd, also proudly Kentuckians.
Copyright 2023 Donald Whelpley
[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms, as I do, and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him elsewhere. ~ Sherry]
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