Tennessee U.S. Bicentennial March, The Tennessee Salute, from NETSTATE.COM (original) (raw)

The Tennessee Salute Adopted: 1975

The Tennessee Salute

Tennessee, Oh How I love you with your fertile rolling plain Tennessee your lakes are playgrounds where the water skiers sway

Purple tinted hills and mountains Touring over fields of grain To the speeding boats that pull them Through the misty silvery spray

Smoke and steam from busy factories Rising upward in the air Trout and brim and bass and croppie Finest in the U.S.A.

From the smoky mountains to Mississippi Happiness is everywhere When you go a-fishin' Catch instead of wishing' H'rah for good ole Tennessee

Oh how I love you There is none that is above you You are on the move

Tennessee is on the double With a minimum of trouble No one can do prove

Tennessee is on good footing Industy is really putting Hard times on the run

Everything that's done and said puts Good ole Tennessee ahead We'll all join in the fun

Adoption of the U.S. Bicentennial march song

Richard M. "Pek" Gunn, serving as the first poet laureate of Tennessee, wrote the poem, "The Tennessee Salute," on March 13, 1975. In that same year, the 87th Tennessee General Assembly passed Senate Joint Resolution No. 19, adopting "The Tennessee Salute" as the state's official bicentennial march.

Tennessee Law

Adopted by Senate Joint Resolution, "The Tennessee Salute" is not listed in the Tennessee Code.