Maryland State Song Historic or Out of Step With Times?

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Maryland’s Civil War-era state song – which denounces “Northern scum” – should be replaced, says a state panel, but Gov. Larry Hogan calls the idea political correctness gone too far.

“Maryland, My Maryland,” was adopted as the state song in the 1930s, and doesn’t reflect today’s residents, says one panelist.

The proposal reflects a change similar to measures this year to remove the Confederate battle flag from state license plates and to remove Confederate monuments in some places, such as the old courthouse grounds in Rockville.

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The flag has been controversial for decades as a symbol adopted by white supremacists. It has come under increasing scrutiny since June, when Dylann Roof killed nine African-American churchgoers during a bible study in a historic Charleston, S.C. church. Images widely distributed of Roof show him holding a Confederate flag, and he has reportedly told authorities he was attempting to start a race war.

“It’s political correctness run amok,” Gov. Hogan told The Washington Post. “Where do we stop? Do we get rid of the George Washington statues out here and take down all the pictures from all the people from the Colonial era that were slave owners? Do we change the name of Washington County, Carroll County and Calvert County?

“You can’t change history, and we’re not going to be able to rewrite history,” Hogan told the Post. “And I don’t think we ought to be changing any of that.”

The state panel posed several alternatives to the song that urged Maryland to fight for the South, including replacing the song, re-writing its lyrics or doing away with a state song.

Another possibility would be to adopt “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the state song; the anthem was penned by Francis Scott Key of Maryland and describes the British attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore during the War of 1812.

State Sen. Ronald N. Young, a Democrat from Frederick, has pre-filed legislation to replace “Maryland, My Maryland” as the state song and replace it with John T. White’s “Maryland, My Maryland,” a poem about the state’s scenery.

Full lyrics to “Maryland, My Maryland,” from state website:

I
The despot’s heel is on thy shore,

Maryland!
His torch is at thy temple door,

Maryland!
Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
And be the battle queen of yore,

Maryland! My Maryland!

II
Hark to an exiled son’s appeal,

Maryland!
My Mother State! to thee I kneel,

Maryland!
For life or death, for woe or weal,
Thy peerless chivalry reveal,
And gird thy beauteous limbs with steel,

Maryland! My Maryland!

III
Thou wilt not cower in the dust,

Maryland!
Thy beaming sword shall never rust,

Maryland!
Remember Carroll’s sacred trust,
Remember Howard’s warlike thrust,-
And all thy slumberers with the just,

Maryland! My Maryland!

IV
Come! ‘tis the red dawn of the day,

Maryland!
Come with thy panoplied array,

Maryland!
With Ringgold’s spirit for the fray,
With Watson’s blood at Monterey,
With fearless Lowe and dashing May,

Maryland! My Maryland!

V
Come! for thy shield is bright and strong,

Maryland!
Come! for thy dalliance does thee wrong,

Maryland!
Come to thine own anointed throng,
Stalking with Liberty along,
And sing thy dauntless slogan song,

Maryland! My Maryland!

VI
Dear Mother! burst the tyrant’s chain,

Maryland!
Virginia should not call in vain,

Maryland!
She meets her sisters on the plain-
Sic semper! ‘tis the proud refrain
That baffles minions back amain,

Maryland!
Arise in majesty again,

Maryland! My Maryland!

VII
I see the blush upon thy cheek,

Maryland!
For thou wast ever bravely meek,

Maryland!
But lo! there surges forth a shriek,
From hill to hill, from creek to creek,
Potomac calls to Chesapeake,

Maryland! My Maryland!

VIII
Thou wilt not yield the Vandal toll,

Maryland!
Thou wilt not crook to his control,

Maryland!
Better the fire upon thee roll, Better the shot, the blade, the bowl,
Than crucifixion of the Soul,

Maryland! My Maryland!

IX
I hear the distant thunder-hum,

Maryland!
The Old Line bugle, fife, and drum,

Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! She spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! She burns! She’ll come! She’ll come!

Maryland! My Maryland!