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US State Songs

List of all of the official state songs with words, their history and adoption information.

Massachusetts Symbols

Massachusetts Symbols

Beans, Berry, Beverage, Bird, Building & Monument Stone, Cat, Ceremonial March, Children's Author and Illustrator, Children's Book, Citizenry, Cookie, Dessert, Dog, Donut, Explorer Rock, Fish, Flag, Flower or Floral Emblem, Folk Dance, Folk Hero, Folk Song, Fossil, Fruit, Game Bird, Gem, Glee Club Song, Heroine, Historical Rock, Horse, Insect, Marine Mammal, Mineral, Motto, Muffin, Nicknames, Ode of the Commonwealth, Patriotic Song, Poem, Polka, Rock, Seal, Shell, Soil, Song, Tree, Veterans of Southwest, Asia War Monument, Vietnam War Memorial

Massachusetts Folk State Song

"Massachusetts"

Words and music by Arlo Guthrie

Adopted in 1981.

"Massachusetts" adopted in 1981.

"Massachusetts"

Like a dream in the night
As the snow settles white
There's a fire burning bright
In Massachusetts
And there's a house upon a hill
That keeps us from the chill
And by the grace of God
We will be in Massachusetts

CHORUS:

You can tell me about the times you spent
In the Rockies and on the plains,
Please don't think that I'm the last to say
That there ain't lots of other places
In this world that still remain
Beautiful and unchanged
But they're just not the same
The sun comes up to meet the dawn
And there's a day that must go on
There's another night that's gone
In Massachusetts
And I could spend all of my days
And remain each day amazed
At the way each day is phrased
In Massachusetts

CHORUS

Now if you could only see
I know you would agree
There ain't nowhere else to be
Like Massachusetts
And there's a house upon a hill
That keeps us from the chill
And by the grace of God
We will be in Massachusetts
Come on tell me about the time you spent
In the Rockies and on the plains
And please don't think that I'm the last to say
That there ain't lots of other places
In this world that still remain
Beautiful and unchanged
But they're just not the same as Massachusetts

Origin of Song:

GENERAL LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS
PART I.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
TITLE I.
JURISDICTION AND EMBLEMS OF THE COMMONWEALTH, THE GENERAL COURT, STATUTES AND PUBLIC DOCUMENTS
CHAPTER 2. ARMS, GREAT SEAL AND OTHER EMBLEMS OF THE COMMONWEALTH
Chapter 2: Section 20 Folk song of commonwealth
Section 20. The song ""Massachusetts'', words and music by Arlo Guthrie, shall be the folk song of the commonwealth.

State Songs

Forty-nine states of the United States (all except New Jersey) have one or more state songs, selected by the state legislature as a symbol of the state.

New Jersey does have an unofficial state song, "Born to Run" by Bruce Springsteen, but it has not yet been approved by the state legislature.

Some states have more than one official state song, and may refer to some of their official songs by other names; for example, Arkansas officially has two state songs, a state anthem, and a state historical song. Also, Virginia does not presently have a state song by that name, but it has given two songs official recognition under other names. Arizona has a song that was written specifically as a state anthem in 1915, as well as the 1981 country hit Arizona, which it adopted as an alternate.