Essential to understanding Texas pride is listening to music that aggrandizes Texas. This is accomplished through “Beautiful Texas” as sung by The Light Crust Doughboys, a 5-piece band. They became one of the first to make music known as Texas Western Swing.
Upon the first listening, it is easy to detect the Texan pride interlaced throughout the song. The song is addressing people who have heard stories about Texas and it seems like the song is there to set the record straight. It does this through its “Texas is beautiful” theme captured through various references to Texas geography and history.
The song lists visuals that make Texas beautiful such as bluebonnets growing and fore-fathers fighting at the Alamo. These images incorporate a lot of Texan history. The bluebonnet is Texas’ state flower according to Aggie Horticulture, a division of Texas A&M University. (Texas has five state flowers, all of which are bluebonnets.) They grow on hillsides, showering Texan fields. In order to grow these flowers, they have to be planted at the right time in the right Texan region. By mentioning the bluebonnets, I think it adds a visual aspect to hyping up Texas. For everyday listeners, one can see a blue flourishing Texas. For a Texan, this description evokes strong imagery as well as pride. Texans have an understanding that this is their state flower and they are among the few that have the capability to grow it making Texas even more exclusive in their minds. There is also a historical reference early on in the song. The song discusses the Alamo, further drawing upon the Texan listener’s pride. It reminds them of this great battle that took place. It contributes to the Texan idealization of great warriors. This then adds to the mythos of a great undefeatable warrior. To the average listener, it allows us to place Texas in history and while it wouldn’t elicit a prideful feeling for us, it serves as a slight reminder of what they have done.
There is also this idea that no matter how far you travel or leave, Texas will always outshine any place you visit and the idea that Texas is vast because “you can live on the plains or mountains or down where the sea-breezes blow and you’re still in beautiful Texas.” According to Texas Almanac, Texas has four regions, the Great Plains, the Interior Lowlands, the Gulf Coastal Plains, and Basin & Range Province. This variation of physical regions is important to mention in the song because for an average listener we gain an understanding of Texas geography. For the Texan listener, it reinstates that Texan pride in how much they have to offer. Where the previous section drew on historical facts, this section draws upon the geography of Texas.
More visuals are included as the song mentions its white cotton, forests, rivers, and fields. This also includes a historical reference as cotton was an important factor to their economy back then. In the beginning, they mention how people have heard beautiful stories about Texas. By mentioning cotton, they are attributing cotton as a good piece to the story of Texas ignoring the other historical piece of slaves picking cotton and the horrific conditions attached to this. They also mention create a one-sided story by singing”to establish this land of the free.” As it is well known in U.S. history, various groups were excluded from this freedom. The song explicitly states how proud Texans are of their state and that they are even “healthy and happy,” almost like it is a given to be in that emotional state if you are in Texas.
You’ve all read the beautiful stories
Of the countries far over the sea
From whence came our ancestors
To establish this land of the free
There are some folks who still like to travel
To see what they have over there
But when they go look, it’s not like to book
And they find there is none to compare
To beautiful, beautiful Texas
Where the beautiful bluebonnets grow
We’re proud of our fore-fathers
Who fought at the Alamo
You can live on the plains or the mountains
Or down where the sea-breezes blow
And you’re still in beautiful Texas.
The most beautiful place that I know.
You can travel on beautiful highways
By the city, the village and farm
Or sail up above on the skyways
And the beauty below you will charm
White cotton, green forests, blue rivers
Golden wheat fields and fruit trees that bear
You can look till doomsday, and then you will say
That Texas has beauty to spare
Oh! beautiful, beautiful Texas
Where the beautiful bluebonnets grow
We’re proud of our fore-fathers
Who fought at the Alamo
You can live on the plains or the mountains
Or down where the sea-breezes blow
And you’re still in beautiful Texas.
The most beautiful place that I know.
In this song about beautiful Texas
There is one thing we just have to say
About six million people
Who’re proud that they’re here to stay
It’s great to be healthy and happy
And that seems to be our good fate
So let us all smile, for life is worthwhile
When we live in this beautiful state.
Of beautiful, beautiful Texas
Where the beautiful bluebonnets grow
We’re proud of our fore-fathers
Who fought at the Alamo
You can live on the plains or the mountains
Or down where the sea-breezes blow
And you’re still in beautiful Texas.
The most beautiful place that I know.
Overall, this song contributes to the Texan identity of being proud and prideful as well as to the Texan mythology that everything is bigger and better. In regards to what I am hearing, I hear lots of string instruments like a steel guitar, a fiddle, maybe a violin or accordion-like sound. It was also recorded at Sumet-Bernet Sound Studios located in Dallas, Texas in 1981 according to their vinyl record cover. The Texas State Historical Association notes that the song was written in 1933.
Not only are they singing this song because they have Texas pride but it’s also because they are important figures in Texas politics. The Light Crust Doughboys are Texas’ “Official Music Ambassadors” as recognized by the State of Texas Legislature. This further puts them on a Texan pedestal and solidifies who they are not only in the music world but in politics as well. They were introduced into the Texas political cycle when they were recruited by Burrus Mill Flour Company. The company sales department was run by W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel who essentially ran The Light Crust Doughboys. The company did radio advertising and they would have the Light Crust Doughboys promote them with their music which “Pappy” O’Daniel would write. He also wrote “Beautiful Texas.” “Pappy” O’Daniel would soon become Governor after encouragement from his radio fans and also be a U.S. Senator for Texas. He ran as a Democratic candidate and his agenda never really took flight. He would often discuss the Ten Commandments and even tried to censor the University of Texas. During his run for Texas governor, W. Lee O’Daniel used “Beautiful Texas” as his campaign’s theme song. This would further establish the band’s importance in Texas.
Works Cited
“Beautiful Texas.” Old Time Blues, 9 Jan. 2020, oldtimeblues.net/lyrics/beautiful-texas/.
“Become a Tsha Member and Join Our Mission to Promote the Unique and Rich History of Texas.” Physical Regions of Texas | Texas Almanac, 4 Oct. 2019, texasalmanac.com/topics/environment/physical-regions-texas.
“Light Crust FLOUR Commercial, No. 1.” Texas Archive, texasarchive.org/2014_02447.
Medford, Barbara. “Ask Mr. Smarty Plants.” Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center – The University of Texas at Austin, www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=5545#:~:text=Lupinus%20texensis%20(Texas%20bluebonnet)%20is,thin%20soil%20coating%20over%20limestone.
“O’Daniel, Wilbert Lee [Pappy] (1890–1969).” TSHA, www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/odaniel-wilbert-lee-pappy.
“The Official Website of the Light Crust Doughboys.” The Official Website of the Light Crust Doughboys, 26 Mar. 2020, lightcrustdoughboys.org/.
“The Texas Politics Project.” Texas Politics – Governors: W. Lee O’Daniel, texaspolitics.utexas.edu/archive/html/exec/governors/20.html.
Parsons, Jerry M, et al. Texas Bluebonnets- Texas Pride. aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/flowers/bluebonnet/bluebonnetstory.html.
