View source for Where the Columbines Grow

{{Short description|State Song of Colorado}}
{{Infobox anthem
|prefix=State
|type=song
|image=Where the Columbines Grow sheet music cover.jpg
|country=[[Colorado]]
|music_date=1911
|lyrics_date=1911
|composer=Arthur John Fynn
|author=Arthur John Fynn
|sound=State Song of Colorado - Where the Columbines Grow.opus
|sound_title=Performance of ''Where the Columbines Grow'' (first verse and chorus), featuring piano and voice
|adopted={{Start date and age|1915|05|08}}
|successor=[[Rocky Mountain High]] (equal status, added 2007)
}}
{{about|the state song of Colorado|information on where the flower grows|aquilegia}}
'''''Where the Columbines Grow''''' is one of the two official [[List of U.S. state songs|state song]]s of the U.S. state of [[Colorado]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ujFCAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Where+the+columbines+grow%22&pg=PA1523|title=Holstein-Friesian World|date=1915|publisher=Holstein-Friesian World}}</ref> It was written and composed by Dr. Arthur John Fynn in 1911,<ref name=RGN>{{cite web|author=Robert G. Natelson|url=https://i2i.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IP-3-2015b-Columbines-1.pdf |title=Reclaiming the Centennial State's Centennial Song: The Facts About ''Where the Columbines Grow''|publisher=Independence Institute|date=September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXFJAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Where+the+columbines+grow%22&pg=RA7-PA20|title=The Colorado School Journal|date=1914|publisher=Colorado Education Association}}<br>- {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P-hYAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Where+the+columbines+grow%22&pg=PA278|title=History of Colorado|last=Stone|first=Wilbur Fiske|date=1919|publisher=S. J. Clarke}}</ref> and was adopted on May 8, 1915.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=h2MyAAAAIAAJ&dq=To+Adopt+the+Song+Entitled,+%22Where+the+Columbines+Grow,%22+Composed+By+A.+J.+Fynn,+as+the+Official+State+Song+of+Colorado.&pg=PA446 ''An Act to Adopt the Song Entitled, 'Where the Columbines Grow,' Composed by A. J. Fynn, as the Official State Song of Colorado''], ''Laws Passed at the Twentieth Session of the General Assembly of the State of Colorado'' (Denver: Western Newspaper Union, 1915), p. 466.</ref> In the early to mid-2000s, there was debate over replacing ''Where the Columbines Grow'' with [[John Denver]]'s ''[[Rocky Mountain High]]'' or [[Merle Haggard]]'s rare song ''Colorado''. In 2007, the Colorado legislature named ''Rocky Mountain High'' as Colorado's second official state song, paired with ''Where the Columbines Grow''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Wolf, Jeffrey|date=March 13, 2007|url=http://www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=66238|title=Lawmakers name 'Rocky Mountain High' second state song|website=KUSA-TV|location=Denver}}</ref>

In October 1978, Dave Beadles, then the music director for [[KVOR|740 KSSS]] in [[Colorado Springs, Colorado|Colorado Springs]], petitioned Governor [[Richard Lamm]] to temporarily change the state song for Country Music Month to ''Colorado'', written by Dave Kirby.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://secondhandsongs.com/work/143815|title = Original versions of Colorado written by Dave Kirby &#124; SecondHandSongs|website = SecondHandSongs}}</ref> The petition was successful and Kirby was flown to Colorado for the occasion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/tags/dave-kirby?psi=20&pci=7/|title=NewspaperArchive® &#124;dave-kirby historic newspaper articles including obituaries, births, marriages, divorces and arrests}}</ref>

== Lyrics == 
: '''Verse 1'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/archives/state-songs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006084528/https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/archives/state-songs|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 6, 2014|title = Symbols & Emblems &#124; Archives}}</ref>
: Where the snowy peaks gleam in the moonlight,
: Above the dark forests of pine,
: And the wild foaming waters dash onward,
: Toward lands where the tropic stars shine;
: Where the scream of the bold mountain eagle,
: Responds to the notes of the dove,
: Is the purple robed West, the land that is best,
: The pioneer land that we love.

: '''Chorus'''
: Tis the land where the [[Aquilegia|columbines]] grow,
: Overlooking the plains far below,
: While the cool summer breeze in the evergreen trees,
: Softly sings where the columbines grow.

: '''Verse 2'''
: The bison is gone from the upland,
: The deer from the canyon has fled,
: The home of the wolf is deserted,
: The antelope moans for his dead,
: The war whoop re-echoes no longer,
: The Indian's only a name,
: And the nymphs of the grove in their loneliness rove,
: But the columbine blooms just the same.

: '''Verse 3'''
: Let the violet brighten the brookside,
: In sunlight of earlier spring,
: Let the fair clover bedeck the green meadow,
: In days when the orioles sing,
: Let the goldenrod herald the autumn,
: But, under the midsummer sky,
: In its fair Western home, may the columbine bloom,
: Till our great mountain rivers run dry.

: '''Verse 4'''{{efn|This verse was written by Fynn in 1921, responding to criticism that the song as originally published did not mention the name ''Colorado.'' It has a substantially different voice, perspective, and theme from the first three verses, and is rarely published.<ref name=RGN/>}}
: From the far eastern prairie and lakeland,
: From still farther lands by the sea,
: Over perilous paths to our mountains,
: Came the pioneers, fearless and free.
: They came with the bold resolution
: A commonwealth here to create,
: And the watchword they bore was the name we adore,
: Colorado, the columbine state.

==See also==
{{portal|Geography|History|United States|Colorado}}
*[[Bibliography of Colorado]]
*[[Geography of Colorado]]
*[[History of Colorado]]
*[[Index of Colorado-related articles]]
*[[List of Colorado-related lists]]
*[[Outline of Colorado]]
{{clear}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{sister project links|Colorado|auto=yes}}
{{reflist}}

{{Colorado}}
{{List of U.S. state songs}}

[[Category:Music of Colorado]]
[[Category:United States state songs|Colorado]]
[[Category:Songs about Colorado]]
[[Category:1911 songs]]
[[Category:Symbols of Colorado]]