Makeover Of Maryland's State Song Advances In General Assembly
By: Matt Bush
March 16, 2016
Maryland's General Assembly is moving ahead with changes to the state song "Maryland My Maryland," which has long been criticized for its pro-Confederacy lyrics.
The state Senate has given initial approval to the revised lyrics, which combine some of the existing song with words from an unrelated poem. Once a final OK is given later this week, the bill will head to the House of Delegates ...
"Maryland My Maryland" is based on a poem written during the Civil War, but it was not adopted as the Maryland state song until 1939. James Ryder Randall wrote the poem following an incident in Baltimore just after the Civil War started in April 1861. Union troops on their way to D.C. were attacked by Confederate supporters in Baltimore. Four soldiers and 12 civilians died. The opening line of Randall's poem called then president Abraham Lincoln a "despot." He went on to call Union troops "scum", and urged Maryland to join Virginia in fighting against the North.
The bill the Senate approved keeps the same melody of the current song — which is the same as "O Tannenbaum" or "O Christmas Tree" — but would remove most of the objectionable lyrics and replace them with part of a noncontroversial poem also called "Maryland My Maryland" that was written John White in 1894 ...
https://wamu.org/news/16/03/16/makeover_of_marylands_state_song_advances_in_general_assembly
