Where the Columbines Grow

This article is about the state song of Colorado. For information on where the flower grows, see aquilegia.

"Where the Columbines Grow" is one of the two official state songs of Colorado. It was written and composed by A.J. Fynn, and was adopted on May 8, 1915. 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".

In October 1978, Dave Beadles (then music director for 740 KSSS, Colorado Springs) petitioned governor Richard Lamm to temporarily change the state song to "Colorado", written by Dave Kirby, for Country Music Month. The petition was successful, and Kirby was flown to Colorado for the occasion.

Lyrics

Where the snowy peaks glow 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.

Tis the land where the columbines grow,

Overlooking the plains far below,

While the cool summer breeze in the evergreen trees

Softly sings where the columbines grow.

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 he is 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. 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.

See also

• Colorado