The new South Carolina poet laureate’s song “Carolina When I Die” still has a chance to become the state’s third official state song — but he’ll have to make a few lyric changes first.
The state House Committee on Education and Public Works met March 24 to vote on whether to approve the tune, which Camden native Patrick Davis wrote about missing home while out on the road, and have it join “Carolina” and “Carolina on my Mind” as official songs of the Palmetto State.
Davis spoke to the committee — via video call — about the inspiration behind the song, and even pulled out his acoustic guitar and performed it for the lawmakers.
“I would wonder if we are the first committee to ever have a live recording or a concert,” said Rep. Kambrell Garvin, D-Richland.
The praise sputtered out once conservative lawmakers began questioning two of the lyrics in the first verse, however: “I have drank with kings and queens and señoritas of the night / I’ve been lost up in Alaska, lit in Ohio.”
“My constituents, being more conservative, would take issue with this,” said Rep. Stephen Frank, R-Greenville, a member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus.
Diane Mitchell, R–Greenville, wondered whether the quality of the lyrics “rise to the standard” of representing the entire state.
“It’s not that serious,” said Rep. Michael Rivers, D-Beaufort.
The first song, “Carolina,” became official on Feb. 11, 1911. The tune is pulled from a poem by Henry Timrod, “South Carolina’s most beloved poet,” according to SCIWAY, with music by Anne Custis Burgess. The other official song is “Carolina on My Mind,” a track by South Carolinians Hank Martin and Buzz Alredge that the legislature approved in 1984.
“We’re not here trying to set a precedent, we’re not here trying to make everything holy, because none of us are,” said Rep. Terry Alexander, D-Florence.
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