Will “Hang On Sloopy” be Ohio’s official state rock song?

The bill passed the House of Representatives back in March 2015 with a lot of support.

The song, written by Wes Farrell and Bert Russell, was a 1964 hit performed by The Vibrations, a Dayton rock band. It was first performed by the Ohio State University band in 1965.

One of the lawmakers behind the bill State Rep. Cheryl Grossman, R-Grove City, said the push to recognize the song has been a long effort starting back in the 1980s.

“I think there’s a sense of pride in Ohio when you hear Hang on Sloopy,” Grossman said.

Her son even served in the OSU band.

Ohio’s official state song is “Beautiful Ohio” and has been since 1969.

Every state has its own story when it comes to official songs. Here are 5 states with interesting state songs. Information pulled from Wikipedia.

Iowa

One of the oldest songs that have been designated to a state was “The Song of Iowa” by S.H.M. Byers in 1911. This song was originally written by Byers in 1897 and it is sung to the tune of “O Tannenbaum.” This is also the only song that Iowa has ever officially claimed.

Maryland 

Maryland has had this state song since 1939 and similar to Iowa, their song “Maryland, My Maryland” is set to the tune “O Tannenbaum.” recently, there was some controversy concerning the lyrics to the song and the Maryland Senate voted to alter the lyrics. Offensive, Civil War-era phrases were removed while the state preserved their historic song. Florida also went through similar changes in 2008 when its official song  -- “Old Folks at Home” --  was revised from the 1935 original.

Massachusetts

A lot of states have more than just their state song. Similar to Ohio wanting to add a rock song alongside the state song, states can have other songs like a state folk song or state ceremonial march. Massachusetts has the most variety of songs for the state, with seven overall. Here is a list with year the state adopted the song

Tennessee

The state with the most songs that are all recognized as the state song goes to Tennessee. The first song that was chosen was “My Homeland, Tennessee” in 1925 and since then, nine more songs have been added to the list. The songs and the years they were made official state songs for Tennessee are:

New Jersey

New Jersey seems to be the only state that does not have an official anything; no state song, no official rock song, not even a state polka. The only thing this state has is an unofficial youth anthem, "Born to Run." This song was created by New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen.