"Texas, Our Texas" is the official state song of Texas ...
with Texas elementary
students singing the song.
"Texas, Our Texas"
was written in 1924 by William J. Marsh, who was born in
Liverpool, England, and emigrated to Texas as a young man,
and Gladys Yoakum Wright, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and
selected as the state song by a concurrent resolution of the
Texas Legislature in 1929 following a statewide competition.
At that time "largest" started the third
line of the first verse. As of the 1980s, this song was
still sung before classes in some schools, along with the
pledge to the American and Texas flags, but with "boldest"
instead of "largest" due to Alaska being the largest state
when it was admitted to the United States in 1959.
Older songs, such as "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and "Dixie",
were also considered but ultimately it was decided a new
song should be composed. At times, there have been movements
to replace "Texas, Our Texas" with the better known "The
Eyes of Texas".
