Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe ANNAPOLIS, Md., March 25 (UPI) -- The Maryland state Senate president has joined the ranks of those who want to change the lyrics of the state song, "Maryland, My Maryland." The problem with the song, set to the music of the German Christmas song "O Tannenbaum," is that the words are by James Ryder Randall, a Marylander who supported the Confederacy. When Randall talks about the "despot's heel," for example, he is referring to President Abraham Lincoln. Advertisement Senate President Thomas V. Miller suggested Tuesday that a commission could make a suggestion on how to clean up the song -- leaving much of it intact and finding new words for the offensive references to "northern scum," The Annapolis Capital reported. "I love history, but there are times when you have to adjust," he said. Students at Glen Burnie Park Elementary School near Baltimore have been advocating new lyrics that talk about Maryland's "streams and wooded hills" and its "mountains with their gushing rills."
