Official State Song: When It’s Time in Tennessee

When It’s Iris Time In Tennessee


Written by Willa Waid Newman

Sweetness of Spring memories bring
Of a place I long to be.
Land of Sunshine calls this old hear of mine,
Come back to Tennessee.

Rocks and the rills deep tinted hills,
Three’s no spot so dear to me.
Where’er I roam still it’s my Home Sweet Home,
My own, my Tennessee.

When it’s Iris time down in Tennessee,
I’ll be coming back to stay
Where the mockingbird sings at the break of day
A lilting love song gay.
Where the Iris grows,
Where the Harpeth flows,
That is where I long to be.
There’s a picture there that lives in memory
When it’s Iris time in Tennessee.

This song was adopted in 1935 by the 69th General Assembly in Chapter 154 of the Public Acts.