Talk:Maryland, My Maryland

Alternate lyrics for Potomac/Chesapeake line

I learned it as

From shore to shore, from creek to creek, Potomac calls to Chesapeake/ 'Tis time to give the Rebel shriek/ Maryland, my Maryland!

Can anyone verify? Were these the original lyrics? Should this be referenced in the article? I am not going to edit the article because I am not sure of myself on this.98.34.116.243 (talk) 06:20, 24 July 2020 (UTC)Larry Siegel

"Fearless Lowe" and "dashing May"

No mention is made on the page as to the identity of "fearless Lowe" and "dashing May."

A likely possibility for the former is Enoch Louis Lowe (1820-1892), Governor of MD from 1851 to 1854 according to http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/lowe.html This is a suggestion only. Without further knowledge I am unwilling to make an actual edit to the page and perhaps perpetuate an error.

I have no suggestion as to the personage "May."

Dawziecat 20:21, 22 February 2007 (UTC)Dawziecat

"dashing May" refers to Captain Charles May of Maryland who led a charge of the 2nd U.S. Dragoons at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma during the Mexican War

User: Blair D. Hydrick 15:10, 1 March 2009 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.58.41.146 (talk)

That Lowe is a possibility, but since the song calls him "fearless" just after naming two men killed in action, I think the Lowe of the song probably was another soldier. I also have no idea who May was. Neither seems to have died in the Mexican War, and neither was injured in the riot. Tms 13:33, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

An IP linked Lowe to Enoch Louis Lowe and May to Henry May (Maryland). I agree with the other comments here. I doubt Lowe refers just to a governor, where the verse names Mexican War heroes. This book also claims that all of the names mentioned in that verse were of Marylander veterans of the Mexican War.[1] I think May likely refers to the officer who led an assault on enemy artillery batteries at the Battle of Resaca de la Palma:[2]

"Perceiving that no decisive advantage could be gained until this artillery was silenced, I ordered Captain May to charge the batteries with his squadron of dragoons. This was gallantly and effectually executed. The enemy was driven from his guns, and General La Vega, who remained alone at one of the batteries, was taken prisoner. The squadron, which suffered much in this charge, not being immediately supported by infantry, could not retain possession of the artillery taken, but it was completely silenced..."

Strikehold (talk) 10:48, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

a scan of casualties here [3], shows no one named Lowe or May. pohick (talk) 13:00, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Taylor pressed forward, and, after some severe skirmishing, in which a part of his army was engaged, he ordered Captain May, leader of dragoons, to charge upon the battery. Rising in his stirrups, May called out to his troops, " Remember your regiment! Men, follow!" and, dashing forward in the face of a shower of balls from the battery, he made his powerful black horse leap the parapet. He was followed by a few of his men, whose steeds made the fearful leap. They killed the gunners, and General La Vega, who was about to apply a match to one of the pieces, and 100 men were made prisoners by the troops and marched in triumph within the American lines.pohick (talk) 13:14, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

another cite of Taylor's dispatch [4] pohick (talk) 13:19, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

images [5][File:Remember Your Regiment, U.S. Army in Action Series, 2d Dragoons charge in Mexican War 1846.jpg] pohick (talk) 13:23, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

The Enoch Pratt Free Library has footnotes for the song and says: ""May" is Charles Augustus May, who led the Second Dragons [sic] against a line of heavy Mexican artillery, turning the tide of battle...Some have suggested that "Lowe" is Enoch Louis Lowe, Governor of Maryland from 1851 to 1854, and that he participated with valor in the Mexican War, but we could not find documents supporting this connection."[6] I can't find anything supporting that assertion either, but his father, a western Marylander, Lieutenant Bradley S.A. Lowe was a West Point graduate and fought in the War of 1812 and Seminole War.[7] Strikehold (talk) 13:39, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

maybe a stub article is in order pohick (talk) 13:48, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Agreed, I'm working on one now. Strikehold (talk) 14:01, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

great, link to it here, and i'll add what i have pohick (talk) 14:13, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Alright, here it is: Charles A. May. Strikehold (talk) 14:48, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

There are a couple sources that say Enoch Louis Lowe was a soldier in the Mexican War and the one referred to in the lyrics, albeit without much elaboration.[8][9] I'm going to link it in the article to that Lowe. Strikehold (talk) 15:28, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

References

Lincoln as Despot

Does anyone know what was going in in Maryland in 1939 that they would decide "Now is the time to adopt a Confederate Battle Song condemning Lincoln as the 'despot' and referring to National Guard from Massachusetts as the 'Northern Scum'"?

It seems to me that this would not only be an important part to include in this entry but then would also, perhaps, be a way to get action to put this song in the dustbin of history. [Non-neutral point of view: I'm from Massachusetts!! ;<)] 2601:18D:A81:3A43:20FC:43AD:3409:2396 (talk) 18:21, 11 July 2020 (UTC)

What is surprising to me is that Maryland has not repudiated this as its state song. —Preceding unsigned comment added by George was curious (talk • contribs) 14:38, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Old traditions die hard. Sf46 (talk) 16:28, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Lincolin ordered an army through the state against the wishes of the then governing body and incited riots from a people who primarily didn't vote for him and were anti-war, then he defied the constitution and the will of the supreme court so he could unjustly jail dissenters and political writers who disagreed with him and put the state under martial law. This dragged the state into a war they had objected to and effectively turned the state into a war zone. Its really not surprising that the writer of the song thought of Lincoln was viewed so negatively, or that John Wilkes Booth (a native Marylander of that era) later shouted "ser septum tyrannis" as he assassinated Lincoln later on. Like it or not, this song covers a lot of very important history to the state, and I'd rather not whitewash history by changing the lyrics that have a deep meaning for the sake of having a less controversial state song. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.234.207.34 (talk) 21:39, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

To begin with, the Maryland state legislature could simply repeal the 1939 act that adopted "Maryland, My Maryland" as the official state song. There's no harm if Maryland is without an official state song for a few years. In 1997, Virginia retired "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" from its status as Virginia's official state song, largely due to controversy over the lyrics' racial content. In consequence, Virginia has been without an official state song for the last 20 years. New Jersey has never had a state song. Mksword (talk) 20:50, 29 August 2017 (UTC)

Latest attempt to change the lyrics

2009 Maryland House Bill 1241 if passed would change the lyrics of the state song. The proposed lyrics are (yes, it is written in all caps in the bill text, but I had to make some minor changes to what was copied and pasted from the bill to avoid wikipedia markup):

I
WE DEDICATE OUR SONG TO THEE,
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND,
THE HOME OF LIGHT AND LIBERTY,
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND,
WE LOVE THY STREAMS AND WOODED HILLS,
THY MOUNTAINS WITH THEIR GUSHING RILLS,
THY SCENES OUR HEART WITH RAPTURE FILLS
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND.

II
IN TWAIN THE CHESAPEAKE DIVIDES
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND,
WHILE OCEANWARD ITS WATER GLIDES,
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND.
YET WE IN THOUGHT AND PURPOSE ONE,
PURSUE THE WORK SO WELL BEGUN,
AND MAY OUR STATE BE NE’ER OUTDONE,
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND.

III
PROUD SONS AND DAUGHTERS BOAST OF THEE,
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND.
THINE IS A PRECIOUS HISTORY,
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND.
BRAVE HEARTS HAVE HELD THY HONOR DEAR,
HAVE MET THE FOEMAN FAR AND NEAR,
BUT VICTORY HAS FURNISHED CHEER,
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND.

IV
"SAIL ON, SAIL ON, O SHIP OF STATE!"
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND.
MAY WE, THY CHILDREN, MAKE THEE GREAT,
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND.
MAY GRATITUDE OUR HEARTS POSSESS,
AND BOLDLY WE THY CLAIMS EXPRESS,
AND BOW IN LOVING THANKFULNESS,
MARYLAND, MYMARYLAND.

While the new words are nice, the old words are historic. Marylanders seem to be forgetting the beating the state took from both sides during the Civil War. --Josephdurnal (talk) 19:03, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

---

Is there an update to this? I can't seem to find any more information as to whether the bill to change the lyrics was passed. 206.248.176.216 (talk) 18:28, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Last sentence of the "Origin" section

If you click through to "Carry me back to old Virginny," it wasn't written till 1878. Therefore, the last sentence cannot be accurate, despite having a source. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.110.138.37 (talk) 03:41, 28 August 2011 (UTC)

Jazz

There should be something about the fact that an adapted version of the song became a New Orleans jazz standard. I don't know about the subject that well (maybe later I'll do some research and add something), but if anyone else knows about this it should probably be added. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.183.130.113 (talk) 01:03, 8 February 2013 (UTC)

Good Versions

There have been other versions published. NPR's "All Things Considered" has done it at least twice.

Th following is from http://femmesfatales.typepad.com/my_weblog/2015/10/maryland-my-maryland.html

Back in 1980, during one such effort by our state legislature, NPR’s All Things Considered offered the following alternate lyrics:

We've got some hills, we've got some trees, we sing in four-part harmonies;
There's shopping malls and city halls, and cats and dogs and ponds with frogs;
But none of us has ever meant to overthrow the government.
From Baltimore to Hagerstown, just take your car and drive around.

We're near the nation's capital, but we are not stuck up at all,
So take a stand and shake the hand of every crab in Maryland.
We touch four states and several bays, the highways mostly run both ways,
We hope you come and say hello and maybe stop and spend some dough.

When I was ten my family moved here from West Virginia;
I went to school in Annapolis, I studied Greek and calculus,
And now I live in Baltimore and that's what Maryland is for.
Oh Maryland, oh Maryland, oh Maryland, oh Maryland.

I have a dog whose name is Jack, I threw a stick, he brought it back.
My sister had a cat, I think, my mother had a kitchen sink.
My father was a decent man, and we all lived in Maryland.
Oh Maryland, oh Maryland, oh Maryland, oh Maryland.

Our nights are dark, our days are fair, we're right next door to Delaware.
Our song before was full of gore but we heard the Union won the war.
We're sorry if we made you mad, it was the only song we had.
Oh Maryland, oh Maryland, oh Maryland, oh Maryland.

The time that I heard it was much more recently. The phrase that I "remember" was:

There's Hagerstown and Baltimore,
And that's what Maryland is for.

agb — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.233.167.63 (talk) 16:27, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

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obscene?

Objectionable arguably, but a reliable source is needed to establish categories, not editorial whim or spite TEDickey (talk) 21:52, 7 July 2018 (UTC)