Utah State Song - "Utah, This is the Place"
The 2003 Utah State Legislature voted to change the state song from "Utah, We Love Thee" to "Utah, This is the Place." Utah's original state song was then designated as the Utah State Hymn in HB223. Rep. Dana Love, R-Syracuse, sponsored the bill at the behest of the Cook Elementary School class in Syracuse who, as quoted in article from the Salt Lake Tribune on Friday, February 28, 2003, "...they didn't like the current state song, Utah We Love Thee, that it wasn´t very much fun to sing." The Cook Elementary School fourth-graders sang it to Utah senators before they voted on the change.
In 1996, Sam and Gary Francis wrote "Utah, This Is The Place" for Utah's centennial celebration. Since then, the song has grown in popularity with children, especially among fourth-graders who learn it as part of their study of Utah history. There was some doubt if "Utah, This Is The Place" could become the Utah State Song since Sam and Gary Francis would hold copyright to the new state song, and gain royalties every time it was sung. Rep. Gordon Snow, R-Roosevelt asked Rep. Dana Love and she wasn't sure of the answer, but someone, later identified as one of the composers, in the Legislative gallery shouted out "yes! when Snow asked if the copyright would be given up. The House adopted the tune. (according to an article appearing in the Salt Lake Tribune, Thursday, February 13, 2003).
