ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 6, 1997 TAG: 9702060010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
When it comes to picking a new state song, Virginians aren't singing the same tune.
Pauline Hale, a part-time Roanoke bookkeeper, is convinced it should be "Virginia," a new song by country music singers Jimmy and Donna Dean. "It just describes Virginia to a T," she says. "I can't see any other song being the state song. It really describes Virginia the way I know it."
Not so fast, says Anne Cheney, an English professor at Virginia Tech. "I don't think a country song is appropriate for a state with the rich heritage of Virginia. I don't think it's dignified enough." She'd rather have "Sweet Virginia Breeze," a 2-decade-old soft rock song by Richmond songwriters Robbin Thompson and Steve Bassett. "It's a very solid song, and it's not horribly sentimental."
No way, insists Doris Rigdon, a postal employee in Goodview in Bedford County. "I associate it [`Sweet Virginia Breeze'] with beach music." She calls herself a "traditionalist" and would rather have a state song to match. "A new song, maybe," she says. "Maybe we want to think about having someone sit down and write that."
That's where Jack Phillips comes in. The retired Roanoke carpenter and part-time songwriter felt so inspired last week that he wrote his own song, "Sweet Virginia Evermore," and has already mailed off tapes to the governor, his congressman and a half dozen members of the General Assembly. "This is a stately song," Phillips says. "It's filled with depth. It has hymnal harmony."
And so it goes.
If you thought the debate over whether to get rid of the current state song was something, just wait until the next debate over what should replace "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia" and its racially offensive lyrics about "darkeys" and the good ol' days with "Massa."
(Assuming, of course, we really do need a replacement: The state Senate has voted to ``retire" the song and set in motion a study committee to find a new one, and the House of Delegates is expected to go along, but where the General Assembly is concerned, nothing is ever certain.)
So far, there are three options available - "Virginia," "Sweet Virginia Breeze" or commissioning someone to find or write a new song altogether. If the 108 people who phoned in to our informal and highly unscientific survey are any rough indication, Virginians are fairly evenly divided.
Each song has its partisans.
Bruce Hornsby, the Williamsburg-based singer, says he likes "Sweet Virginia Breeze." The Statler Brothers, from Staunton, have endorsed "Virginia," and may record it. That's good enough for Carol Goad, a part-time Roanoke office worker. "I love the Statler Brothers, and if they're going to record the song, it must be special," she says.
She'll have to rely on the Statlers' ear, for now, because very few people have actually heard the Jimmy and Donna Dean song. The only copies are some tapes they made - ironically, at rival Robbin Thompson's Richmond studio. The Deans have one copy, and the Richmond legislator pushing their cause, Del. Frank Hall, has another. The song's widest audience probably will come this week, when The Roanoke Times and its sister paper in Norfolk, the Virginian-Pilot, make the song available on a call-in service. (See Infoline information in graphic on Page 1.)
Nevertheless, the lyrics alone have won over some people. "I thought the words really typified our state," says Patty Ellis, a secretary from Fincastle. "I thought they were very meaningful."
Doris Maxey, a receptionist from Vinton, finds them "beautiful."
The argument for "Sweet Virginia Breeze" is based on the following it's already developed.
```Sweet Virginia Breeze' is really catchy and jazzy and peppy, and talks about all the good things in Virginia," says David Fifer, a sixth-grader at James Madison Middle School in Roanoke. "Our whole family, all six of us, my brothers and sisters and my mom and dad, just love 'Sweet Virginia Breeze.'''
Do they ever. His dad, Greg Fifer, a mail-order consultant, even had elaborate plans once to use it to lure a company to the Roanoke Valley. The Fifers called up WROV-FM to have a tape made, which they then planned to slip under the pillow of the visiting executive with a note reading "play me."
"We were convinced that anyone hearing that song would have to give everything up and move to Virginia," says David's mom, Hope Trachtenberg-Fifer.
Things didn't quite work out that way - the deal fell through before getting to that stage - but still, it's the thought that counts. "The song's perfect," Trachtenberg-Fifer says.
So what if it's got a rock 'n' roll beat? "I think our students would probably prefer soft rock, and that's what Robbin's song is," says Cheney, the Tech professor. And that's the audience state lawmakers ought to be going after when they pick a new state song, Trachtenberg-Fifer says. "If children don't learn to sing a state song, no one will learn it."
She even has a more radical notion - the General Assembly should put some kids on the selection committee. Take her son, David, who plays violin. "He's more than qualified to decide what the song should be," she says.
Want to be heard on the state song or other issues? To leave a message for your state legislators, call (800) 889-0229 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. weekdays or write c/o General Assembly Building, Richmond, Va., 23219.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: Picking a new state song. color. KEYWORDS: MGR INFOLINEby CNB