ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - A longtime Annapolis recording technician has said a song he recorded at the Naval Academy would be a good replacement for "Maryland, My Maryland," a song written by a Confederate sympathizer.
Seventy-one-year-old Charlie Richardson tells The Capital that a song called "My Home, My Maryland" stands out to him as the best representation of the state.
Richardson says the song was composed and performed in 1976 for the Naval Academy Glee Club's bicentennial concerts.
Last week, Delegate Karen Lewis Young, of Frederick, submitted legislation to have the words of the state song replaced by a poem of the same title. Young says the song celebrates the Confederacy and disparages the Union government, with lyrics such as "Northern scum." Previous attempts to change the song have all failed.
Last Stanza
IX
- I hear the distant thunder-hum,
- Maryland!
- The Old Line's bugle, fife, and drum,
- Maryland!
- She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
- Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
- She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
- Maryland! My Maryland!