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Regional anthem of Oregon | |
| Adopted | 1927 |
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"Oregon, My Oregon" is the regional anthem of the U.S. state of Oregon. Written for a song contest in 1920, the 16-line, 2-verse song became the state's official state song in 1927.
The lyrics, widely considered to convey racist sentiments, were updated by an act of the Oregon Legislature in 2021. [1]
In 1920, the Society of Oregon Composers held a competition to select a state song for Oregon. [2] [3] The winning entry, "Oregon, My Oregon," was a collaboration between John Andrew Buchanan, who wrote the lyrics, and Henry Bernard Murtagh, who composed the music. [3] Buchanan was an amateur lyricist who was an Astoria city judge, [3] while Murtagh was a professional musician with a Broadway credit, [4] but who was best known as a professionally trained theatre organist on the West Coast during the silent movie era. [3] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Following the song's selection, the Society promoted the song by conducting performances at public gathering spaces around the state and at schools and universities (the state Superintendent of Public Instruction had endorsed the song). [3]
On February 12, 1927, the song was officially adopted as the state song by a joint resolution of the Oregon State Legislature. [9]
In 2009, legislator Gene Whisnant proposed choosing a new official state song. [10] [11] In 2017, a bill proposed in the Oregon Legislative Assembly sought to update the song's lyrics, "to reflect cultural, historical, economic and societal evolution" of the state. [12]
Buchanan's lyrics contain two main themes: honoring the early settlers and pioneers of Oregon, and praise for the natural beauty of the state. Murtagh composed the song as a march in F major. Unlike two other similarly named state songs—"Maryland, My Maryland" and "Michigan, My Michigan"—"Oregon, My Oregon" is not set to the tune of "O Tannenbaum."
On June 6, 2021, the Oregon Legislature approved changes to the lyrics of Oregon's state song. [13] [14] Amy Donna Shapiro, an Oregonian, replaced "Land of the Empire Builders, Land of the Golden West; Conquered and held by free men, Fairest and the Best" in the first verse with "Land of Majestic Mountains, Land of the Great Northwest; Forests and rolling rivers, Grandest and the best", and "Blest by the blood of martyrs" in the second verse with "Blessed by the love of freedom". [13]
| Old | New (June 6, 2021 – present) |
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"Advance Australia Fair" is the national anthem of Australia. Written by Scottish-born Australian composer Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed as a patriotic song in Australia in 1878. It replaced "God Save the Queen" as the official national anthem in 1974, following a nationwide opinion survey, only for "God Save the Queen" to be reinstated in January 1976. However, a plebiscite to choose the national song in 1977 preferred "Advance Australia Fair", which was in turn reinstated as the national anthem in 1984. "God Save the Queen" became the royal anthem, and is used at public engagements attended by the King or members of the monarchy of Australia. The lyrics of the 1984 version of "Advance Australia Fair" were modified from McCormick's original and its verses were trimmed down from four to two. In January 2021, the official lyrics were changed once again, in recognition of the long habitation of Indigenous Australians.
An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short sacred choral work and still more particularly to a specific form of liturgical music. In this sense, its use began c. 1550 in English-speaking churches; it uses English language words, in contrast to the originally Roman Catholic 'motet' which sets a Latin text.
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The Broadway Bridge is a Rall-type bascule bridge spanning the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon, United States, built in 1913. It was Portland's first bascule bridge, and it continues to hold the distinction of being the longest span of its bascule design type in the world. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 2012.
The Oregon Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded as the 'Portland Symphony Society' in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. Its home venue is the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in downtown Portland's Cultural District.
Harvey Whitefield Scott (1838–1910) was an American pioneer who traveled to Oregon in 1852. Scott was a long-time editorialist, and eventual part owner of The Oregonian newspaper. Scott was regarded by his contemporaries as instrumental in bringing the state of Oregon firmly into the political camp of the Republican Party.
Asa Lawrence Lovejoy was an American pioneer and politician in the region that would become the U.S. state of Oregon. He is best remembered as a founder of the city of Portland, Oregon. He was an attorney in Boston, Massachusetts before traveling by land to Oregon; he was a legislator in the Provisional Government of Oregon, mayor of Oregon City, and a general during the Cayuse War that followed the Whitman massacre in 1847. He was also a candidate for Provisional Governor in 1847, before the Oregon Territory was founded, but lost that election.
Peter Hardeman Burnett was an American politician who served as the first elected Governor of California from December 20, 1849, to January 9, 1851. Burnett was elected Governor almost one year before California's admission to the Union as the 31st state in September 1850.
Wade McCollum is an American film actor, stage actor and composer/musician.
The Oregon Historical Society Museum is a history museum housed at the Oregon Historical Society in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The museum was created in 1898 and receives about 44,000 visitors annually.
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The Oriental Theatre was a movie theater located at 828 SE Grand Street in the East Portland commercial district of Portland, Oregon that was built in 1927. The Oriental was a 2,038-seat movie palace designed by Lee Arden Thomas and Albert Mercier. The building's exterior was in the Italian Renaissance style. The interior had an "almost surreal appearance" created by interior designer Adrien Voisin. It was built by George Warren Weatherly. Demolished in 1970, the theater was adjacent to the Weatherly Building, which remains standing.
John Andrew Buchanan was a judge and politician in Astoria in the U.S. state of Oregon, and an amateur poet who wrote the lyrics to the Oregon state song.
John Virginius Bennes was an American architect who designed numerous buildings throughout the state of Oregon, particularly in Baker City and Portland. In Baker City he did an extensive redesign of the Geiser Grand Hotel, designed several homes, and a now-demolished Elks building. He moved to Portland in 1907 and continued practicing there until 1942.
Kate Murtagh was an American actress and singer-comedian, a native of Los Angeles, California.
George Henry Himes was an Oregon pioneer and the first curator of the Oregon Historical Society. His collection of diaries and notebooks preserved the details of the lives and experiences of many pioneers.
The Organ Grinder Restaurant was a Portland, Oregon pizzeria in operation from 1973 to 1996. At one point it housed the largest theater pipe organ of its type in the world.
At the advent of the 20th century, the city of Portland, Oregon, was among the first on the United States West Coast to embrace the advent of the silent and feature film. The city's first movie palace, the Majestic Theatre, opened in 1911. By 1916, Portland had "the finest array" of movie houses on the West Coast relative to its population, pioneering venues dedicated exclusively to screening films. The popularization of the sound film in the early 1920s resulted in another boom of new cinemas being constructed, including the Laurelhurst, the Hollywood Theatre, and the Bagdad Theatre, the latter of which was financed by Universal Pictures in 1926.
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