Bill Text: MS HB911 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Official state poem; designate "I Am Mississippi" as.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Failed) 2014-02-04 - Died In Committee [HB911 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2014-HB911-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2014 Regular Session
To: Tourism
By: Representatives Shirley, Pigott
House Bill 911
AN ACT TO CODIFY NEW SECTION 3-3-59, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DESIGNATE THE POEM "I AM MISSISSIPPI" AS THE OFFICIAL STATE POEM OF MISSISSIPPI; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 3-3-59, Mississippi Code of 1972:
3-3-59. The poem entitled "I Am Mississippi" by Paul Ott, copyrighted 1990, is designated as the official state poem of Mississippi. The poem reads as follows:
"I Am Mississippi
I'm the land of the Choctaw
The hills of Vicksburg, and a cross-cut saw
Dinner on the ground and a muscadine vine
I'm a longleaf pine, and Mississippi's on my mind
I'm a banjo pickin' and all night sings
Azaleas a'bloomin' in Ocean Springs
I'm a Gospel Singer and the old folks at home
And I'm the eagle on the top of the capitol's dome
I'm coffee in the morning and an ole smoked ham
Cathead biscuits and blackberry jam
I'm a Mississippi moon, a dusty Delta Dawn,
B.B. King,
Magnolias in bloom
I'm an antebellum home on the Natchez Trace,
A rusty plow on the old home place
I'm Walter Payton catchin' a pass, Elvis Presley,
Coon hounds and bird dogs and tea of
Sassafras
I'm Miss Mississippi and all her glory
I'm William Faulkner as he writes a story
I'm Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman
John C. Stennis, a southern statesman
I'm the Mississippi River as it rounds the bend
I'm Gone with the Wind, ya'll come back again
Well, I'm everything good you have ever dreamed about
Hush yo' mouth, I'm Mississippi - I Am the South."
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.
