My Michigan


"My Michigan" is the regional anthem of the U.S. state of Michigan.

History

It was written by Giles Kavanagh and H. O'Reilly Clint in 1933. It was published by Clint's own music publishing company at Detroit. It was formally adopted as an official state song by the Michigan Legislature in 1937 by Concurrent Resolution 17.
Despite being an official state anthem, the song is rarely sung and never used on formal state occasions. This may be because doing so would incur liability to pay a royalty. The State did not purchase and/or the authors would not sell the copyright, and neither was the song released into the common domain. Under the current federal law, the song's copyright will expire at the end of the 70th year following the deaths of its authors, O'Reilly Clint having died in 1961. There are two versions of the sheet music; one is held at the Rare Book Room at the Library of Michigan and the other is housed at the Bentley Historical Museum.