Tennessee is known as the country music capital of the United States, with Nashville being called “Music City”. The state has five official state songs, including “My Homeland Tennessee” and “Rocky Top”. Pending legislation may add three more.
Music has always been an important part of the culture of the US state of Tennessee. The state is considered the country music capital of the United States and Nashville, the capital of Tennessee, is known as “Music City”. The fourth largest city in the southeastern United States, it is home to the American country music industry. Tennessee may be alone among U.S. states to have not one but five official state songs. There is currently pending legislation to add three more to the list.
Tennessee’s first state song was “My Homeland Tennessee,” adopted by the state legislature in 1925. The song’s lyrics were written by Neil Grayson Taylor and the music was composed by Roy Lamont Smith. The song is about the beauty of Tennessee in its “smiling valleys” and “purple hills”. The lyrics are also about Tennessee’s love and loyalty to their state. The song expresses pride in the famous citizens of “the state where Jackson sleeps,” a reference to Andrew Jackson, the first U.S. Representative from Tennessee and later the seventh president of the United States.
Adopted in 1935, “When It’s Iris Time in Tennessee” became Tennessee’s next state song. It was written and composed by Willa Waid Newman. The song describes the beauty of Tennessee in the spring as you walk among its “deep colored hills” when the irises are in bloom. The iris is the state flower of Tennessee.
Tennessee’s official public school song, “My Tennessee” was also made a state song in 1955. Written by Tennessee native Frances Hannah Tranum, the song recalls childhood memories of the state’s natural beauty and the courage of its citizens on behalf of justice. One verse of the song is dedicated to the “battles fought and victories won,” which earned Tennessee the nickname “The Volunteer State” during the War of 1812. During that war, thousands of Tennesseeans responded to the state’s call for volunteer soldiers .
The song “Tennessee Waltz,” written by Redd Stewart and Pee Wee King in 1946, became a Tennessee state song in 1965. The song was very popular throughout the 1950s and was covered by well-known American country music artists like Patti Page. It is about someone who loses his loved one while the beloved dances with another “the beautiful Tennessee Waltz”.
“Rocky Top,” written by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, became the fifth official state song of Tennessee in 1986. The name most likely refers to the bald peaks of the Great Smoky Mountains, located on the line between Tennessee and the state of Carolina of the North. . Rocky Top is still a very popular song in the US. With its lyrics about “moonshine” stills and a woman “wild as a mink, but sweet as soda,” it celebrates the spirit of independence and self-sufficiency embodied in rural Tennessee mountain life.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
