Maryland lawmakers who support changing the official state song think the time is right to finally wipe away "Northern scum" and other sensitive pre-Civil War phrases. "Maryland, My Maryland," set to the traditional seasonal tune of "O,Tannenbaum," was written in 1861 by James Ryder Randall and adopted as the state song in 1939. Sen. Cheryl Kagan, a Democrat, is proposing a bill that would repeal the current state song and find a replacement with the help of a contest. "It's long overdue to change Maryland's state song," Kagan said. Hayes' bill in the House would revise the state song to be the poem "Maryland, My Maryland," written by Sean Tully last year and derived from Randall's poem.

Source: ABC News February 16, 2018 17:32 UTC