“God bless Texas” (“God blessed Texas”)
“God bless Texas” is a phrase that can be seen on many Texas gift items—the phrase can even be purchased for a Texas special license plate. The official Texas state song, “Texas, Our Texas” (written in 1924, made the official state song in 1929), contains a chorus of “God bless you, Texas!”
Texas Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock (1929-1999) liked to end sessions of the Texas legislature and to end his speeches with “God bless Texas!”
The country music band Little Texas (founded in Arlington, Texas) recorded the song “God Blessed Texas” in 1993. The song has been used in Texas Ford commercials, with “God blessed Texas” replaced with “Ford is the best in Texas.” The song “God Blessed Texas” appears in many YouTube videos, also under the title “God Bless Texas.”
“God bless West, Texas” was a popular slogan following an April 2013 fertilizer explosion that killed at least 15 people and injured at least 200 others in that sparsely populated city. “God Bless Texas” posters were used with “West” drawn in.
Wikipedia: Little Texas
Little Texas is an American country music band founded in Arlington, Texas in 1988 by Tim Rushlow (lead vocals) and Brady Seals (lead vocals, background vocals, keyboards), Del Gray (drums), Porter Howell (lead guitar), Dwayne O’Brien (rhythm guitar), and Duane Propes (bass guitar).
Signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1991, Little Texas released its debut album First Time For Everything that year; the album’s lead off single, “Some Guys Have All the Love”, reached a peak of #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. Little Texas continued to produce hit singles throughout the mid-1990s, including the Number One single “My Love”, and Top Ten hits in “You and Forever and Me” (1992), “What Might Have Been” (1993), “God Blessed Texas” (1993), “Kick a Little” (1994), “Amy’s Back in Austin” (1995) and “Life Goes On” (1995). Seals departed in 1995, with Jeff Huskins succeeding him on keyboards.
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A modified version of their song “God Blessed Texas” has been used in Texas Ford commercials from the late 1990s to the present, substituting the line “God blessed Texas” with “Ford is the best in Texas.”
YouTube
Little Texas - God Bless Texas
Added: March 14, 2008
A great video of a great song, about a great State.
Little Texas, God Blessed Texas lyrics
Artist: Little Texas
Song: God Blessed Texas
Album: Big Time
(Porter Howell/Brady Seals)
I’ve seen a lot of places
I’ve been around the world
I’ve seen some pretty faces
Been with some beautiful girls
But after all I’ve witnessed one thing still amazes me
Just like a miracle you have to see to believe
‘Cause God blessed Texas with His own hand
Brought down angels from the promised land
Gave ‘em a place where they could dance
If you wanna see heaven brother here’s your chance
I’ve been sent to spread the message
God blessed Texas
TxDOT Special Plate Order Application
God Bless Texas
From the $40 specialty plate fee, $32 goes to the state highway fund to be used for the Safe Routes to School Program. The annual specialty license plate fee is charged in addition to the regular registration fee [pdf, 1 page, 943kb] and any other applicable fees.
cafepress
God Bless Texas Organic Cotton Tee
From A Little Bit of Something for Everyone
From the Designer
“God Bless Texas ~ Texas Flag Merchandise”
cafepress
God Bless Texas Tote Bag
From A Little Bit of Something for Everyone
From the Designer
“God Bless Texas ~ Texas Flag Merchandise”
Gifts for Professionals
God Bless Texas Flag Lapel Pin
The Free Dictionary—Acronyms
Acronym Definition
GBT Gary B Trudeau (author of Doonesbury cartoon)
GBT Gay/Bisexual/Transgender
GBT General Business Technology
GBT Generalized Balanced Ternary
GBT Generalized Bayesian Theorem
GBT God Bless Texas
GBT Great Books Tutorial
GBT Green Bank Telescope (Pocahontas County, West Virginia)
GBT Ground-Based Transceiver
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Wikipedia: Bob Bullock
Robert D. “Bob” Bullock (July 10, 1929 – June 18, 1999) was a Democratic politician from Texas, whose career spanned four decades. He climaxed his service as Lieutenant Governor of Texas from 1991–1999 during the terms of Governors Ann Richards and George W. Bush.
After a stint as an assistant attorney general and in the private practice of law, Bullock returned to public life when he was appointed secretary of state, the state’s chief elections and records officer, by Governor Preston Smith. Bullock soon left the post to prepare for a statewide race for state Comptroller in the 1974 Democratic primary.
As state comptroller, Bullock was noted for his modernization of the office and for collecting certain taxes that had been previously uncollected for many years. The tax officials doing such duties became known as “Bullock raiders.” Bullock was also the first elected state official to adopt an equal opportunity employment program. Bullock held the comptroller’s office from 1975–1991, when he was easily elected to succeed retiring Lieutenant Governor William P. “Bill” Hobby, Jr.
As Lieutenant Governor, he professed a nonpartisan approach to lawmaking, often telling members of the Texas Senate to leave their politics at the door. Bullock unofficially endorsed Republican Governor George W. Bush’s presidential campaign even before it got off the ground. At a November 8, 2006, post-election press conference, a reporter from the Austin American-Statesman, who had covered Bush’s tenure as governor, asked Bush if he thought then U.S. House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi resembled Bullock. The President replied that the reporter’s question was an inside joke. The question was a thinly-veiled reference to the close working relationship, well-known in Texas, to have existed between Republican Bush and Democrat Bullock; the reporter apparently was asking whether Bush would be capable of forging a similar bi-partisan relationship with the members of the new Democratic legislative majority in the U. S. Congress.
Bullock was renowned for his blunt and sometimes politically incorrect speaking style, but also for his trademark closing line “God bless Texas.” A lover of Texas history, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Texas State History Museum, located just to the north of the State Capitol in Austin. Opened to the public on April 21, 2001 (San Jacinto Day) after Bullock’s death, it was named in his honor. The second-floor lobby of the museum features a seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Bullock holding a giant gavel, next to a gallery of items and a video from his career in politics.
Texas Library Association
God Bless Texas
Presentation of Resolution on Taxes,” November 9, 1991
Patricia Smith, Joe McCord, James Stewart, Bob Bullock, Cynthia Gray, and Sam Stone
TLA Archives, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
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Stewart: The first time we met Bob Bullock was at a fundraiser in the fall of 1988. Joe and I were no longer novices at such events, having gone through a Gib Lewis affair under Sam Stone’s direction. When we had looked longingly at the steaks, Sam had instructed us to mingle since we had made a contribution not to eat, but to mix with the senators and representatives and to shake hands with the Speaker. When the Bullock event occurred we were seasoned pros, but we were still unprepared. It was a Bullock crowd, and we were privileged to see several more over the years. There was big hair and pot bellies, silk and satin, denim and diamonds. There was whooping and how yews and the tinkle of ice in hundreds of glasses. We dutifully greeted everyone in sight, showed our name badges, which said TL-PAC, and hoped for the best. Our encounter with Bullock was brief. It was just a few words of introduction and a handshake accompanied by a friendly pat on the shoulder. Joe figured out later and explained to me that the friendly left hand on the shoulder was actually to keep the greeting line moving, but it was done so gently and smoothly that neither of us noticed it at the time.
Among others we saw Ann Richards, who once told me that Bob Bullock knew everybody. Bullock had arranged a sit down dinner, a slick slide presentation, and a little speechifying. In his remarks he spoke of the people who had helped him. He spoke of Ann Richards meeting his plane when he came back from Betty Ford’s clinic. He introduced his family. The man loved people, and he conveyed that. I believe it was that evening that he first concluded, “God Bless Texas!” Joe and I walked out and knew we had witnessed something phenomenal.
Wikipedia: Texas, Our Texas
“Texas, Our Texas” is the state song of Texas. It was written in 1924 by William J. Marsh,who was born in Liverpool, England,and emigrated to Texas as a young man, and Gladys Yoakum Wright, a native of Fort Worth, Texas and selected as the state song by a concurrent resolution of the Texas Legislature in 1929 following a statewide competition. Older songs such as “The Yellow Rose of Texas” and “Dixie” were also considered but ultimately it was decided a new song should be composed. At times, there have been movements to replace “Texas, Our Texas” with the better known “The Eyes of Texas.”
The first word of the third line was originally largest, but when Alaska became the largest state when it was admitted to the United States in 1959, the word was replaced with boldest.
Lyrics
Texas, Our Texas! all hail the mighty State!
Texas, Our Texas! so wonderful so great!
Boldest and grandest, withstanding ev’ry test
O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest.
Chorus:
God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong,
That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.
Texas, O Texas! your freeborn single star,
Sends out its radiance to nations near and far,
Emblem of Freedom! it set our hearts aglow,
With thoughts of San Jacinto and glorious Alamo.
Chorus:
Texas, dear Texas! from tyrant grip now free,
Shines forth in splendor, your star of destiny!
Mother of heroes, we come your children true,
Proclaiming our allegiance, our faith, our love for you.
Chorus:
21 November 1891, Galveston (TX) Daily News, pg. 6, col. 2:
God bless Texas, and make it a great state.
29 May 1991, Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, pg. 1:
Bob Bullock declaring from the Senate podium, “God bless Texas.”
15 March 1996, Seguin (TX) Gazette-Enterprise, “Texas history is prologue for the future” by Judith Zaffirini, pg. 4, cols. 2-5:
“God bless you, Texas! And keep you brave and strong./ That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.” In 1929 the 41st Texas Legislature adopted William J. Marsh’s “Texas, Our Texas” as our state song.
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As our state’s population increases, we must ensure that Texas continues to be the wonderful and great state that inspired William Marsh’s lyrics and Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock’s prayer. “God bless Texas!”
OCLC WorldCat record
Bob Bullock : God bless Texas
by Dave McNeely; Jim Henderson
Type: Book; English
Publisher: Austin : University of Texas Press, 2008.
Parks’ Picks
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Back from Texas
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A couple other observations from Texas…..
1.) Having an enormous facility to play high school football is apparently a significant priority in most Texas communities.
2.) Texans like Texas. I got my hair cut at a barber shop in Lancaster , Texas. One whole wall of the barber shop was decorated from floor to ceiling in Texas themed art. There was the Texas flag, barbed wire in the shape of Texas, and of course the “God Bless Texas” slogan was inscribed on several crafty knick-knacks.