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returning to America and dying at age 57 in 1911.
The song was not adopted as Virginia's official anthem until 1940. Any efforts to sanitize the lyrics should have been made then, but it was an entirely different age.
1 can recall singing the song while in elementary school, paying little heed in those days to its words. I was covering the legislature when Wilder, in the early 1970s, railed against the song and in years since then there have been a number of legislative efforts to make it acceptable. For several years, my friend Tom Moncure of Stafford, then a member of the House of Delegates, stirred the pot with bills to that effect, all of which were eventually shelved.
If 'Carry Me Back' is retired, as seems likely at this writing, a special commission will probably be established to come up with a new state song. In the past a number of alternative songs have been advanced, but I haven't heard one yet that seems appropriate.
For instance, Jimmy Dean's suggested new song is good but it is also country and Virginia's song won't be accepted if it has country or rock overtones. Indeed, it must sound as if it could have been written in the 19th
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