THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 18, 1997 TAG: 9702180298
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
LENGTH: 54 lines
The song you never hear sung in Virginia at official functions, and rarely hear anywhere else except around the Virginia Capitol of late, appears to be going, going and really close to absolutely gone.
Monday, not a single discordant note was heard as the House of Delegates voted 100-0 to make ``Carry Me Back to Old Virginia'' the state song emeritus.
There was no debate.
``This puts the song where it belongs - in history - and it won't be troubling us any further,'' Del. William P. Robinson Jr., D-Norfolk, told his House colleagues.
It's been a long road.
The first attempt to repeal the state song was made in 1970 by then-state Sen. L. Douglas Wilder, a grandson of slaves who became the nation's first elected black governor.
Legislation to repeal the song or sanitize its lyrics became annual fixtures on the General Assembly docket. Lawmakers each year were influenced by ``Carry Me Back'' supporters who said the song was an important part of Virginia's heritage.
But this year, the lawmakers were persuaded by arguments that the song is so offensive that it is no longer taught to schoolchildren and has not been performed at an official state function in two decades.
Other song-sensitive measures have been defeated in this session.
Senators had approved setting up a way to select a new song. That idea was to create a committee of legislators and citizens who would recommend what to do about a song.
Members of the committee would have some knowledge or expertise in music, literature or Virginia history. They'd be charged with determining the three best alternatives for the state song and presenting them to the governor and the 1998 General Assembly.
The House of Delegates rejected that idea.
Another proposal called for replacing ``Carry Me Back'' with the singing sausage mogul Jimmy Dean's ``Virginia.''
That bill died.
There's one last step before the song is retired. Although the bill passed the Senate 24-15 on Jan. 28, it now goes back to the Senate for action on a minor amendment. The change would speed retirement of the state song from 1998, as proposed earlier, to July 1 of this year.
Sen. L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth and co-sponsor of the bill, said she would ask the Senate to accept the amendment. The alternative would be to reject the amendment and turn the issue over to a conference committee consisting of three senators and three delegates.
``We've come too far to risk losing it now,'' Lucas said.
Gov. George F. Allen has said he supports the bill.
KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA STATE SONG GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997