Singing About Oregon
By BILL DUNCAN Here’s a bit of Oregon trivia. Did you know Oregon has a state song? Do you know who wrote the state song back in 1918 or 1919? Would you believe a Roseburg, Oregon attorney wrote it? Bob Robins retired in 1985 after 22 years as the Roseburg High School choir director. He has now dedicated himself to making sure every Oregonian is singing “Oregon, My Oregon,” the official, yet little known, song of the state when it celebrates its Sesquicentennial (150 year anniversary) of statehood on Feb. 14, 2009. Robins is currently singing his heart out around the state attempting to teach Oregonians the words to the state song written by John Andrew Buchanan, a Roseburg attorney, and put to music by Henry B. Murtagh of Portland. The Oregon state legislature adopted “Oregon, My Oregon,” as the state song in 1927 and at one time every school child in the state began their school day singing, “Oregon, My Oregon.” Robins said today few even know the words and he wants to change that before the state celebrates its statehood. The words to the song are: “Land of Empire Builders, Land of the Golden West. Conquered and held by free men, Fairest and the best. Onward and upward ever, Forward and on, and on. Hail to the, Land of Promise, My Oregon. Land of the rose and sunshine, Land of the summer’s breeze. Laden with health and vigor, Fresh from the Western seas. Blest by the blood of martyrs, Land of the setting sun. Hail to thee, Land of Promise, My Oregon.” Buchanan was a noted writer and his prose was printed in national magazines and newspapers. He later moved to Astoria where he served as city attorney and was eventually a judge in that city. Robins said every state in the union, except New Jersey, has a state song, none as forgotten as Oregon’s state song. For example Kansas has a very familiar state son, “Home on the Range,” and Louisiana adopted “You are My Sunshine.” He doesn’t know why “Oregon, My Oregon,” became so disused that few people now know the words. Strangely, he said everybody seems to know that the Douglas fir is the state tree and the Western Meadow Lark is the state bird, but the state song is all but forgotten. Even the fact that the square dance is the state’s official dance is better known than the song. Robins said there is a historic marker on a private residence on Mill Street in Roseburg dedicated to Buchanan who lived there when he wrote the state song. Robins is conducting sing-ins especially concentrating on teaching the state song in the schools. “What I have discovered,” he said, “is that the schools once began each day with the Pledge of Allegiance, then each child in Oregon’s school, in particular the elementary schools, followed that ritual by singing ‘Oregon, My Oregon.’” There are committees all over Oregon preparing for the Feb. 14, 2009 celebration. Sue Shafer, a Cow Creek tribe member, who wants to insure Indians are represented in the state’s celebration, heads the committee in Douglas County. The celebration will begin Feb. 14, 2009, and last will through the fall of 2009. To tell the state’s story a speakers bureau is currently being established around the state. Ray Sims of Roseburg has produced a slide show of the state’s history and another group of Oregonians is preparing a cookbook of Oregon’s special recipes that will be published in December as part of the statewide celebration. Pendleton Woolen Mills has designed two lap robes in honor of the celebration, one depicts the snow-covered Mount Hood that has watched over Oregon for 150 years and the other has the Western Meadowlark, the state bird, embodying Oregon as a bold, free-spirited bird. The state bird that was selected by Oregon’s school children and because of the Western Meadowlarks distinctive voice, it is dedicated to Oregon’s children as “the unique voice of the future.” If Bob Robins has his way, those children will all be singing, “Oregon, My Oregon.” (Bill Duncan can be reached by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470.)
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