I Love You, California is the official state song of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. The lyrics were written by Francis Bernard Silverwood (1863-1924), a Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 clothier

Clothier

Clothier may refer to one of the following professions:*Tailor - the most common modern usage*Cloth merchant*A cloth manufacturer - see cloth productionAs a surname, Clothier may refer to one of the following individuals:...

 and the words were subsequently put to music by Abraham Franklin Frankenstein (1873-1934), then conductor of the Orpheum Theatre Orchestra. The production was published by Hatch & Loveland, Music Printers, Los Angeles, California, and copyrighted by F.B. Silverwood in 1913. It was the official song of expositions held in San Francisco and San Diego in 1915.

Premiere

Later in 1913, the song was introduced by opera star Mary Garden

Mary Garden

Mary Garden , was a Scottish operatic soprano with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century...

, associated with the Chicago Grand Opera at that time. "Mary Garden stopped Grand Opera to make this California song famous," read the notices virtually ensuring the popularity and success of the new song. The renowned soprano wrote on Alexandria Hotel stationery,

Dear Mr. Silverwood:

I am proud to be the first to sing your most beautiful song in public — and I hope for it a wonderful success here in California and everywhere!

Sincerely,

Mary Garden

Played aboard the SS Ancon

I Love You, California, was played aboard the steamship Ancon, which on August 14, 1914, became the first merchant ship to pass through the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

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State legislative designation

In 1951, the State Legislature passed a resolution designating it as California's state song. California Government Code section 421.7 states, "I Love You, California, a song published in 1913 with lyrics by F.B. Silverwood and music by A.F. Frankenstein, is the official state song."

In 1988, I Love You, California became the official state song by law. (Source: California State Library)

Lyrics

I Love You, California

I.

I love you, California, you're the greatest state of all.

I love you in the winter, summer, spring and in the fall.

I love your fertile valleys; your dear mountains I adore.

I love your grand old ocean and I love her rugged shore.

Chorus

Where the snow crowned Golden Sierras

Keep their watch o'er the valleys bloom,

It is there I would be in our land by the sea,

Every breeze bearing rich perfume.

It is here nature gives of her rarest. It is Home Sweet Home to me,

And I know when I die I shall breathe my last sigh

For my sunny California.

II.

I love your red-wood forests - love your fields of yellow grain.

I love your summer breezes and I love your winter rain.

I love you, land of flowers; land of honey, fruit and wine.

I love you, California; you have won this heart of mine.

III.

I love your old gray Missions - love your vineyards stretching far.

I love you, California, with your Golden Gate ajar.

I love your purple sun-sets, love your skies of azure blue.

I love you, California; I just can't help loving you.

IV.

I love you, Catalina, you are very dear to me.

I love you, Tamalpais, and I love Yosemite.

I love you, Land of Sunshine, Half your beauties are untold.

I loved you in my childhood, and I'll love you when I'm old.

It is most heard when played at funerals of former Governors of California, most recently at the funeral of Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

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Other non-official state songs

During the years following, several attempts were made to make other songs the official state song, such as:

• California, Here I Come
  California, Here I Come
  "California, Here I Come" is a song written for the 1921 Broadway musical Bombo, starring Al Jolson. The song was written by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Meyer, with Jolson often listed as a co-author. Jolson recorded the song in 1924...
  
  is known by many, while, nowadays, I Love You, California is known by few.

• California, Sweet Homeland of Mine — In 1921, Lynden Ellsworth Behymer (1862-1947), impresario
  Impresario
  An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
  
  , and Bessie Bartlett Frankel (Mrs. Cecil Frankel) (1884-1959), donated a sum of money to the California Federation of Music Clubs to hold a contest for lyrics to a state song "of real value." The judges were Benjamin Franklin Field (1868-1960), chairman of the federation and chairman of the committee of judges, Grace Atherton Dennen (1874-1927), editor and publisher of The Lyric West, and Blanche Robinson
  Blanche Robinson
  Blanche Robinson was an American composer and well-known piano accompanist. During her prolific years as a composer, she lived in New York City. During her more active years as a piano accompanist, she lived in Los Angeles...
  
  (Mrs. Martin Hennion Robinson) (née Williams; 1883-1969), composer. The original deadline, October 1, 1921, was extended to December 31, 1921 and the prize money was increased to $100. The judges selected Mary Lennox of San Francisco on January 17, 1922, as the winner:

California, Sweet Homeland of Mine

You're the land at the foot of the rainbow,

Where the great pot of treasure was spilled

That is fashioned anew by the sunshine and dew,

Into marvels of bright hopes fulfilled;

You're land where each fair trail leads homeward,

'Neath the palm of the sheltering pine

California, sweet homeland of mine.