Hawaii's official state anthem,Hawai`i Pono`î, happens to be a waltz in form although no one would think to dance to it. It is performed with the same seriousness granted to another similar waltz, God Save the Queen. Hawai`i Pono`î (the title translates from the Hawaiian language as Hawaii's Own True Sons) was introduced in 1874. The lyrics were written that year by King David Kalākaua (full name: David Laʻamea Kamananakapu Mahinulani Naloiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua), the last King of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. The music was composed earlier, 1872, by Captain Henri Berger, the King's royal bandmaster. Berger based the tune on the Prussian National Anthem, Heil Dir Im Siegerkranz, which itself is based on God Save the Queen. While the three are rhythmically almost identical, the melody of Hawai`i Pono`î is different enough to be distinguished from the other two. It was made the official Hawaiian state anthem in 1967 but before that was national anthem of the Kingdom of Hawai'i, the national anthem of the Republic of Hawaii and the adopted song of the Territory of Hawaii. A popular version from YouTube is shown below. A simplified score and lyrics are included at the bottom of this blog post.
As to waltzes with Hawaii in the title, a search found only two:
In 1959, Fred Astaire introduced a set of five LP's which contained dance music used in his franchised dance studios. Each LP contained an instruction book and if you took the instruction book to one of his studios, you got a free dance lesson. The LP titled American Waltzes on the RCA Camden label contained a song titled The Hawaiian Waltz. It is performed by the Fred Astaire Dance Studio Orchestra but details of the background of that orchestra or the composer of the song have not been found.
The second is an original by Canadian finger-style guitarist and luthier, Simon Budd, titled Hawaii ala Waltz. It is found on his 2006 recording, The Wait is Over.
What is not included:
There is a genre of Hawaiian music which includes many
waltzes but there are very few which share the words
"Hawaii" or even, "Hawaiian" and "waltz" in the title. A classic example
of this is the 1914 recording of Hawiian Waltz Medley on the Victor
label by Pale K. Lua and David K. Kaili
There were also a number of "false positives" is the search for Hawaii Waltz. One of my favorites was Michael Bøgebjerg Petersen's Hawaii Waltz which turned out to be his own interpretation of Peter Kraus'sSwartze Rose, Marie.
A second probable "false positive" is from Hammond organ specialist, Klaus Wunderlich, which appears in this YouTube video titled Hawaii Waltz. It is a waltz, actually a medley of waltzes and although there is perhaps a Hawaii Waltz somewhere in that medley, no other evidence that he recorded such a waltz could be found (and he recorded many, many tunes on the organ).
Georgia adopted an official State Waltz in 1951. It is titled Our Georgia and was composed by James Burch. The story is that Burch played the waltz on the piano and sang it at the Georgia Democratic State Convention in 1951 and those attending were so impressed that they took it back to the Georgia General Assembly and with Georgia Code, Title 50, Section 3-61 made it the official state waltz.
The song was published by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., New York but is no longer in their catalog. Copies of the song are not common but Peter B. Shirts, Music Librarian at the Robert W. Woodruff Library of Emory University was kind enough to track down a copy in the Special Collections Library at the University of Georgia. In addition, Ephraim J. Rotter, Curator of the Thomas County [GA] Historical Society has supplied a copy of the sheet music from the Burch-Hargrave Collection of the Thomas County [GA] Historical Society. Mr. Rotter has cataloged the Burch-Hargrave Papers and read hundreds of Burch's letters and notes and has this to say about the composer of Our Georgia, "Burch was a bitter, narcissistic, angry, paranoid individual. He was deeply
involved in the founding of the Thomas County Historical Society, and eventually
alienated everyone around him in his pursuit of recognition of his own perceived
greatness. He died of a heart attack in 1963 following the publication of the
Historical Society’s first book,Antebellum Thomas County,the day after a rather public outburst at
his perception that he wasn’t being praised as much as he should for his role in
the publication."
A computer generated rendition of Our Georgia created from that score can be heard below.
Many thanks to Gynnie Moody and Susan and Mike Brantly for making the connections with the Thomas County Historical Society. A simplified score and lyrics for Our Georgia are provided at the bottom of this blog.
Leaving behind the official state waltz, there are two 19th century sheet music versions from the Library of Congress
You can hear a computer generated version of Grobe's waltz below.
The most popular 20th century Georgia waltz was written by George "Speedy" Krise (1922-2011) and Mac Wiseman's performance of Krise's Georgia Waltz is the most viewed Georgia waltz on YouTube. Wiseman's performance is captured on a 10", 78 rpm record on the Dot label, Dot 1092, issued in 1952. According to an article in the July 8, 2006 Virgini-Pilot the song was considered as the state song for Georgia but lost out to Georgia on My Mind. Lyrics and a simplified score can be found at the bottom of this blog post. You can listen to the tune below:
Many people have performed covers of the Krise/Wiseman Georgia Waltz. You'll find a couple on YouTube:
A back-porch version with David and Nancy featuring some wonderful harmony here.
A 2012 performance by David Peterson playing solo guitar and singing at The Rock in Rockmart, Georgia is here.
The late singer/song writer Tom Barger recorded Sweet Georgia Waltz on the LP, I Stand Alone. You can find quite of few of Barger's song on his YouTube channel including a "live" version of Sweet Georgia Waltz which is actually a demonstration of Barger's professional skills as a video editor since the sound track is identical to that of the LP. The song was recorded much earlier, in 1975, by Larry Roberds on a 45 rpm record (Resco 538). Interestingly, the composer of Sweet Georgia Waltz is shown on that record as Thomas Barber rather than Thomas Barger. An error, perhaps? You can hear both versions of the song in the videos below.
In 1983, singer/song writer, Jim Palana recorded a song he wrote titled Old Georgia Waltz on an LP titled Back in Town issued on the Drumless Record label (DCR-1000). The lyrics deserve a listen but the melody is not up the standards of the previous two examples. As recently as 2012, Palana still included the song in his shows and you can see him perform it at the Catbird Cafe in Weymouth, Massachusetts in the video below.
In the video below, Tom Phipps tells the story of the creation of the Tennessee Waltz and observes that there was not a Georgia Waltz so he created one some time around 2007 while "messin' around with his son's guitar" in Detroit. Tom may have missed a couple of other earlier versions of Georgia Waltz but he did write a nice one. He sings it here accompanied on guitar by John Brown.
There is another entertaining version of Phipps singing his Georgia Waltz, perhaps with family members, here.
The progressive bluegrass band Control Burn takes a quite different approach in their own Georgia Waltz composed by their guitarist, Harris Kendrick, and captured live at the Hunt House in Marietta, Georgia. This is a wonderful blend of jazz and bluegrass played by some very talented young musicians.
And in stark contrast to Control Burn, this blog post on Georgia waltzes will close with the Red Mountain Yellowhammers, an old-time string band from Birmingham, Alabama playing Georgia Waltz on their recording Throw the Old Cow Over the Fence (on the Whoop it Up label). The liner notes from that album indicate they learned it from fiddler, James Bryan, who learned it from a depression era mandolin player named Joe Sharp. It has been preserved by the folk process until crystallized in this recording.
What was not included:
Georgia Waltz by Guitarist Anthony Wilson and his "little big band" on the LP Goat Hill Junket (you can hear it on YouTube here). Not included because although it starts out and ends as a waltz, the bulk of the tune is fine jazz but it is not a waltz.
A cover of Jim Palana's Old Georgia Waltz by Chris Lee - left out because its tough to compete with the original which is included above..
Several issued copyrights document the existence of other waltzes but no recordings or other evidence of the following were found:
Copyright notice on The Georgia Waltz to Shannon Gray - 1967
Copyright notice on Georgia Waltz to Walker W. Lilly = 1967
Copyright notice on Georgia Waltz to Pearle Heard Bryant - 1959
Copyright notice on Georgia Waltz to Marion Young - 1967
There are no doubt other copyrighted Georgia waltzes but there is no convenient way to do a thorough search. These four were found by searching Google Books.
There is evidence of several other recorded Georgia waltzes but sound or video was not found for them:
Billboard notice of record release - Georgia Waltz by Bill Franklin on the Abbey label in 1951
Georgia Waltz by Leon Beavers on the Yonah label in 1960
Georgia Waltz by Henry Four on Decca label in 1958
Here are the lyrics and the simplified score for the official state waltz, Our Georgia:
Verse 1
It's a grand old state, our Georgia. There the Swannee River flows. A bit of God's own Heaven As everybody knows. And when I go a-roaming, A longing fills my breast. A song there comes from out my heart For the state I love the best.
Chorus
Georgia-land, Georgia-land, Georgia-land The Cherokee roses are blooming. Georgia-land, Georgia-land, Georgia-land. The stars up above are shining. Georgia-land, Georgia-land, Georgia-land. The dogwoods are smiling so tender. If nothing will do And you're feeling blue Just come to Georgia-land.
Verse 2
There are greater states than our state In wealth and pomp and power. But have they got that little thing, The magic of a flower? So when it comes to living, And having life's repose We must not skip that blessing, The glory of our rose.
And, finally, here are the lyrics and the simplified score for "Speedy" Krise's Georgia Waltz:
Georgia Waltz words and music by George "Speedy" Krise
The moon shone down in Georgia. I held you in my arms. We danced a waltz, a beautiful waltz. You smiled with all your charms and all of the boys were jealous. We danced that whole night through. A lovely night of friendal[sic] and that Georgia waltz and you.
Those memories still haunt me. They seem to linger near. The band was playing softly. I whispered in your ear and told you how I loved you. You said that you loved me too. How do you think I could ever forget that Georgia waltz and you.
Mac Wiseman sings this in the key of D flat. It has been transposed here to the key of D which most people will find easier to play.
