Mississippi state song soon to join old state flag

“Go Mississippi!,” the state’s official track for the previous 60 years, is seemingly going, going, gone with the wind.

The track written and recorded by songwriter-musician Houston Davis wants solely Gov. Tate Reeves’ signature to affix the previous state flag within the Nice Past, to not be heard once more, at the least in ceremonial circles.

Reeves has till April 23 to signal into regulation Home Invoice 453, which features a provision designating Greenville native Steve Azar’s “One Mississippi” because the sanctioned state track. The matter is included in laws appropriating tens of millions of {dollars} geared toward selling the state.

The invoice additionally creates a examine committee to think about different songs that “Mississippians could get pleasure from … which can be acceptable for all events, occasions and day by day actions.” The group would report its findings to the Legislature by Dec. 31.

“Go Mississippi!” grew to become the state track Could 17, 1962, based on the “Blue Ebook,” a miscellany revealed quadrennially by the secretary of state’s workplace. The Jackson Board of Realtors had undertaken “the duty of discovering a passable track to signify the State of Mississippi,” a Blue Ebook blurb famous. Lyrics of “Go Mississippi!” adopted.

“I Am Mississippi,” written and relentlessly promoted to lawmakers by the late entertainer and wildlife conservationist Paul Ott as a doable new state track, may very well be one thought-about, and probably is the selection of many voters aware of its lyrics.

Davis, who additionally was a justice of the peace in Hinds County, wrote marketing campaign songs for the late former Gov. Ross Barnett. One composition, “Roll With Ross,” included the strains, “For segregation, a hundred percent,” and “He’ll struggle integration with forceful intent.”

“Go Mississippi!” has been underneath hearth for its affiliation with Barnett, a religious segregationist, and carried a rhythm much like the Barnett marketing campaign anthem. Thus, its official standing was in jeopardy – very like the previous state flag that integrated the Accomplice battle flag in its canton.

Reeves in 2020 signed into regulation a invoice handed by legislators to create a brand new state flag. Later, voters chosen the brand new flag that includes a magnolia blossom and the nationwide motto “In God We Belief” in its middle. There’s been no point out of a referendum for state songs.

The Clarion Ledger’s Todd Worth reported in March that after Azar’s “One Mississippi” was chosen by representatives as the brand new state track, senators selected a trio of songs to be thought-about: Azar’s track, “Miss the Mississippi and You” by nation music legend Jimmie Rodgers of Meridian and “Crossroads” by Robert Johnson of Hazlehurst, thought-about because the “founder” of Mississippi Delta Blues. The Rodgers and Johnson efforts are possible different decisions.

“Azar distills the complete state, from its meals and tradition to landscapes and power within the face of disasters, right into a 5-minute track,” Worth reported. Considered one of Azar’s strains reads, “I’ll breathe Mississippi ‘until I’m useless and gone.”

The track by Rodgers, thought-about by most observers because the “father of nation music,” is believed to be the work that “meets the melodic and lyrical necessities for a state track.” One line romanticizes, “Mockingbirds are singing ‘around the cabin door, whereas I dream of Mississippi and also you.”

Johnson’s composition presents the assumption that the bluesman bought his soul to the satan at a crossroads – theorized to be situated on the intersection of highways 61 and 49 close to Clarksdale – “in alternate for his musical abilities,” Worth wrote. “Johnson falls to his knees and begs God for mercy.”

For now, the Teddy Bear, Natchez silt loam, sq. dances, milk, mockingbirds, and honeybees, amongst others, appear secure as “state symbols.”

Mac Gordon is a local of McComb. He’s a retired newspaperman. He may be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.