Uploaded November 2016 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Maryland, My Maryland" is the official state song of the U.S. state of Maryland. The song is set to the tune of "Lauriger Horatius" — better known as the tune of "O Tannenbaum". The lyrics are from a nine-stanza poem written by James Ryder Randall (1839–1908) in 1861. The state's general assembly adopted "Maryland, My Maryland" as the state song on April 29, 1939.
The song's words refer to Maryland's history and geography and specifically mentions several historical figures of importance to the state. The song calls for Maryland to fight the Union and was used across the South during the Civil War as a battle hymn. It has been called America's "most martial poem".
Due to its origin in support of the Confederacy, it includes lyrics that refer to President Abraham Lincoln as a "tyrant", "despot", and "Vandal", and to the Union as "Northern scum", as well as referring to the phrase "sic semper", which was the slogan later shouted by Marylander John Wilkes Booth while assassinating Lincoln. For these reasons occasional attempts have been made to replace it as Maryland's state song,but to date all such attempts have met with failure.
Maryland, My Maryland" is the official state song of the U.S. state of Maryland. The song is set to the tune of "Lauriger Horatius" — better known as the tune of "O Tannenbaum". The lyrics are from a nine-stanza poem written by James Ryder Randall (1839–1908) in 1861. The state's general assembly adopted "Maryland, My Maryland" as the state song on April 29, 1939.
The song's words refer to Maryland's history and geography and specifically mentions several historical figures of importance to the state. The song calls for Maryland to fight the Union and was used across the South during the Civil War as a battle hymn. It has been called America's "most martial poem".
Due to its origin in support of the Confederacy, it includes lyrics that refer to President Abraham Lincoln as a "tyrant", "despot", and "Vandal", and to the Union as "Northern scum", as well as referring to the phrase "sic semper", which was the slogan later shouted by Marylander John Wilkes Booth while assassinating Lincoln. For these reasons occasional attempts have been made to replace it as Maryland's state song,but to date all such attempts have met with failure.
![National Anthem: Ireland - Amhrán na bhFiann [New Version]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/s_hmooJ-6eo/mqdefault.jpg "National Anthem: Ireland - Amhrán na bhFiann [New Version]
A Soldiers Song was composed in 1907, with words by Peadar Kearney and music by Kearney and Patrick Heeney. The first draft, handwritten on copybook paper, sold at auction in Dublin in 2006 for €760,000. The text was first published in Irish Freedom by Bulmer Hobson in 1912. It was used as marching song by the Irish Volunteers and was sung by rebels in the General Post Office (GPO) during the Easter Rising of 1916. Its popularity increased among rebels held in Frongoch internment camp after the Rising, and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in the Irish War of Independence (1919–21). After the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, a large proportion of the IRAs men and apparatus became the National Army. The Soldiers Song remained popular as an Army tune, and was played at many military functions.")
![National Anthem: Iceland - Lofsöngur [NEW VERSION]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/t1DvLI1UH6s/mqdefault.jpg "National Anthem: Iceland - Lofsöngur [NEW VERSION]
Much like the United States anthem, the Icelandic national anthem was originally written for a particular occasion and it probably did not occur to either the poet or the composer that the song was destined to become a national anthem.
In Iceland, nation-wide celebrations were held throughout 1874 to mark the 1000th anniversary of the first Norse settlement of the island. (This is the “Iceland’s thousand years” that are referenced in the anthem.) To mark the occassion, the Bishop of Iceland decreed that church services on August 2 of that year were to be held based on the anniversary, and the text to be presented was Psalm 90. The Rev. Matthías Jochumsson then decided to write a poem based on the Biblical text and the millennial anniversary. While abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, he met up with Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson, who Jochumsson asked to compose music for his poem.")
