USA State Song: Maryland – ‘Maryland, My Maryland’

Maryland, My Maryland” is the official state song of the U.S. state of Maryland. The song is set to the tune of “Lauriger Horatius” — better known as the tune of “O Tannenbaum”. The lyrics are from a nine-stanza poem written by James Ryder Randall (1839–1908) in 1861. The state’s general assembly adopted “Maryland, My Maryland” as the state song on April 29, 1939.

The song’s words refer to Maryland’s history and geography and specifically mentions several historical figures of importance to the state. The song calls for Maryland to fight the Union and was used across the South during the Civil War as a battle hymn. It has been called America’s “most martial poem”.

Due to its origin in support of the Confederacy, it includes lyrics that refer to President Abraham Lincoln as a “tyrant”, “despot”, and “Vandal”, and to the Union as “Northern scum”, as well as referring to the phrase “sic semper”, which was the slogan later shouted by Marylander John Wilkes Booth while assassinating Lincoln. For these reasons occasional attempts have been made to replace it as Maryland’s state song,but to date all such attempts have met with failure.

music youtube, UCUqIRbmRUoUKKddCUOxSvIg, Ian Berwick

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