Virginia Official State Song

Our Great Virginia 


Written by Mike Greenly and Arranged by Jim Papoulis

You’ll always be our great Virginia.

You’re the birthplace of the nation.

Where history was changed forever.

Today, your glory status as we build tomorrow. 

I fill with pride at all you give us,

Rolling hills, majestic mountains,

From the Shenandoah to the Atlantic,

Rivers wide and forests tall, all in one Virginia.

For each of us here in Virginia,

From farm to city dweller,

All of us, we stand together.

We’re yours, we all are yours,

Across our great Virginia.

You’ll always be our great Virginia.

Our Great Virginia was voted in as the state’s official traditional song in 2015 when the original state song was retired. Sweet Virginia Breeze by Robbin Thompson and Steve Bassett is the designated popular state song. 

On Jan 28, 1997 the Virginia Senate voted 24 -15 to designate Carry Me Back as state song “emeritus” and directed a study committee to come up with a new state song. Carry Me back to Old Virginny was written by an African American minstrel, James Bland, in the last century and has been Virginia’s state song since 1940.