The Song “I Love You, California” Was Designated as the Official State Song of California in 1951. The lyrics of the song were written by Francis Beatty Silverwood (1863–1924), a Los Angeles clothier. The words Of the song were subsequently put to music by Abraham Franklin Frankenstein (1873–1934), then conductor of the Orpheum Theatre Orchestra.
California State Song Composer Frankenstein was a cousin of the San Francisco Chronicle’s long-time music and art critic Alfred V. Frankenstein. The song was published by Hatch & Loveland, Music Printers, Los Angeles, California, and copyrighted by F.B. Silverwood in 1913.
State Song of California “I Love You, California” Was the official song of expositions held in San Francisco and San Diego in the year of 1915. Later in 1913, the California State Song song was introduced by opera star Mary Garden, associated with the Chicago Grand Opera at that time. “Mary Garden stopped Grand Opera to make this California song famous,” read the notices virtually ensuring the popularity and success of the new song.
The renowned soprano wrote on stationery from the Hotel Alexandria in Los Angeles, In 1951, the State Legislature passed a resolution designating it as State Song of California. California Government Code section 421.7 states, “I Love You, California, a song published in 1913 with lyrics by F.B. Silverwood and music by A.F. Frankenstein, is become an official state song. In 1987, “I Love You, California” became the official State Song of California by law.
I Love You, California
words by F.B. Silverwood, music by A.F. Frankenstein
I love you, California, you’re the greatest state of all
I love you in the winter, summer, spring, and in the fall.
I love your fertile valleys; your dear mountains I adore,
I love your grand old ocean and I love her rugged shore.
Chorus
I love your redwood forests – love your fields of yellow grain,
I love your summer breezes, and I love your winter rain,
I love you, land of flowers; a land of honey, fruit, and wine,
I love you, California; you have won this heart of mine.
Chorus
I love your old gray Missions – love your vineyards stretching far,
I love you, California, with your Golden Gate ajar,
I love your purple sunsets, love your skies of azure blue,
I love you, California; I just can’t help loving you.
Chorus
I love you, Catalina – you are very dear to me,
I love you, Tamalpais, and I love Yosemite,
I love you, Land of Sunshine, half your beauties are untold,
I loved you in my childhood, and I’ll love you when I’m old.
Chorus
When the snow-crowned Golden Sierras
Keep their watch o’er the valleys bloom.
It is there I would be in our land by the sea,
Ev’ry breeze bearing rich perfume,
It is here nature gives of her rarest,
It is Home Sweet Home to me.
And I know when I die I shall breathe my last sigh
For my sunny California.