Idaho

Like Hawaii, the official state song of Idaho, Here We Have Idaho, is in waltz form and the "official score" contained in M.J. Bristow's book, State Songs of America, even specifies "Waltz tempo." It could be a dance-able waltz although it is usually performed with the dignity that an official state song deserves. The story behind this song is best told in a Digital Memory from the University of Idaho's Special Collections and Archives. The melody was composed in 1915 by Sallie Hume-Douglas, a young teacher in Hawaii who wrote songs as a hobby. She also wrote both music and lyrics and called her song Garden of Paradise (subtitled Hawaiian Love Song).  McKinley Helm, a student at the University of Idaho heard the melody somewhere and decided to use it to win a 1917 song contest at the University.  He wrote lyrics for the melody (which are still used today as the chorus) and another student, Alice Bessee helped set them to music.   Their adaptation won the contest and was eventually adopted as the school's alma mater. With a few additional changes to the lyrics, it was named the state song by the Idaho state legislature on March 11, 1931.  The Hawaiian roots of Idaho's state song are also apparent in a 1927 recording of Garden of Paradise by the Hawaiian baritone, Keaumoku A. Louis, on an RCA Victor disc, PBVE-305 - a ukulele was included in the orchestra. But the song is best when sung by genuine Idahoans like the fourth graders from Tiebreaker Elementary in Idaho Falls:

Lyrics and a simplified score for Here We Have Idaho can be found at the bottom of this blog post.

The earliest known waltz celebrating Idaho is from 1864 - Idaho Waltz by H. Schirner. It was a parlor piano piece published as sheet music by Chicago publisher, H.M. Higgins.  Gary Eller, a nuclear scientist and musicologist, has not only described the song in his Pre-1919 Idaho Songs website, he has also performed it on the banjo accompanied by Sean Rogers on the piano.  You can listen to Sean and Gary play it here. or you can buy their CD, High Tone Music from Idaho, and hear it along with fifteen other Idaho tunes from the pre-radio era.

In 1961, Jimmy Heath and the Rhythm Rollers recorded Idaho Waltz composed by Charlie "Idaho" Crump on a 45 rpm record issued on the Mega label.  According to Bill Chiles, Jimmy Heath used to appear at the Green Key honky-tonk in Pocatello and first recorded the song on a Voice-o-Graph type machine in a 5-and-dime store.  Chiles learned the song from a cassette made from that record.  While that story does have a certain ring of truth to it, one wonders if that cassette tape was made from the Mega label recording.  At any rate, here is a performance by Chiles of Idaho Waltz followed by the original recording by Jimmy Heath (thanks to Gary Eller for providing Heath's recording).

Sometime in the 1950's - probably 1954, Dusty Taylor and his band, the Rainbow Valley Rangers, recorded Idaho Waltz, written by H.E. Taylor, on 78 rpm record on the Nugget Label. (It is not relevant to this blog but there is an interesting story about Nugget and the OP series records here.) Thanks to an extra effort by "Armadillo Killer", you can hear Taylor's version of Idaho Waltz on YouTube:

The most recent waltz recorded to celebrate Idaho is Idaho Solstice Waltz by Sassafras Stomp. It was recorded in 2012 in a Maine  cabin built by Sassafras Stomp fiddler, Johanna Davis, a native of Maine.  The tune was written by guitarist Adam Nordell, the other half of Sassafras Stomp.  Nordell's roots are in Montana and the pair met and performed there before moving to Maine in 2010. In a personal communication, here is what Nordell says about the creation of the song - "Idaho Solstice was written at the Harriman Ranch State Park in Island Park, Idaho - a beautiful patchwork of lodgepole pine woods, expansive meadows and wetlands along the Henry's Fork of the Snake River.  My family has spent uncountable weekends there. Johanna and I skied into the park with my family in late December, and I wrote the tune in the old ranch cook house under clear starry skies, surrounded by a favorite place covered in snow." The song appears on their first album, Sassafras Stomp. You can listen to it below:

What is not included:

There is a 1972 copyright to an Idaho Waltz  granted to Lee. B. Gregory
There is a 1974 copyright to Beautiful Idaho Waltz granted to Donald E. Stull

Since no further information about these waltzes was found, they were not included.

If you know other examples of Idaho waltzes, please leave a comment below.


And finally, here are the lyrics to Here We Have Idaho followed by a simplified score:

You've heard of the wonders our land does possess...
Its beautiful valleys and hills...
The majestic forests where nature abounds...
We love every nook and rill...

Chorus

And here we have Idaho...
Winning her way to fame...
Silver and gold in the sunlight blaze...
and romance lies in her name...

Singing, we're singing of you...
Ah, proudly too,
All our lives through (quickly)we'll go
Singing, singing of you,
Alma mater of Idaho.

verse 2

There's truly one state in this great land of ours
Where ideals can be realized.
The pioneers made it so for you and me,
A legacy we'll always prize.

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