Bill of the Day: State Song Showdown – “Go, Mississippi” vs. “One Mississippi”

Y’all Politics brings you a Bill of the Day from the Mississippi Legislature that just may pique your interest. 

When the gavel dropped to open the 2022 legislative session, Speaker Philip Gunn pointed to the new voting boards hanging in the House of Representatives and played “One Mississippi,” a song written by Steve Azar at the request of former Governor Phil Bryant to commemorate the state’s bicentennial anniversary.

Now, Gunn wants to make Azar’s song the official state song of Mississippi.

Speaker Gunn has filed a bill (HB 1487) that would replace the current state song of Mississippi – “Go, Mississippi” – with the more recent “One Mississippi.”

“Go, Mississippi” was written by William Houston Davis and was adopted as the state song of Mississippi in 1962. Davis was born in Oklahoma in 1914 and moved to Mississippi in 1942. He was a teacher, drummer, arranger and composer. He was recognized in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in 1938 for having held a drum roll for 6 hours, 30 minutes, and 20 seconds. Later in his life, he served as Justice of the Peace in Hinds County and ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Jackson. Davis died in 1987.

Here is “Go, Mississippi” as performed by Rick Pickren.

“One Mississippi” was written by Azar. He is a country music singer, songwriter, and producer from Greenville. His hit single “I Don’t Have To Be Me (‘Til Monday)” received three BMI Million-Air awards for over 3 million in air plays and is one of the top five most played songs of the past decade on country radio. He and his wife started the Steve Azar St. Cecilia Foundation in 2006 to raise funds for charitable organizations, particularly in the Delta region that aid sick, disadvantaged and abused children. Azar is currently also the host of SuperTalk Radio’s “In a Mississippi Minute” where is billed as the Music and Culture Ambassador of Mississippi.

Here is “One Mississippi” as performed by Azar himself. This video was shown to the Mississippi House by Speaker Gunn at the opening of the 2022 session.

https://youtu.be/-rpwau3jZEk

This bill has been referred to the House Tourism Committee.

UPDATE:

HB 1487 has passed the Mississippi House by a vote of 95-12.