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Wisconsin Wisconsin how can I say what you mean to me Land of great bratwurst Milk cows and cheese And you would surely be remiss To think to you've said it all If in the litany of things you list You neglected to mention Green Bay Packer football Wisconsin Wisconsin You'll always be sweet home to me Wisconsin Wisconsin You'll always be sweet home Wisconsin to me In a way we've given you Laverne and Shirley Ralph, Richie, Potsie and the Fonzie And you drive up north to Lake Superior Make sure you take along some of our world famous Old Milwaukee Brewski / Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewski Chorus And if you ever go to see the Dells See the prettiest town on the river Of La Crosse as far as I can tell Wisconsin Wisconsin You'll always be sweet home to me Wisconsin Wisconsin You'll always be sweet home to me You'll always be sweet home You'll always be sweet home You'll always be sweet home Wisconsin to me by Doug Newman © 1999 Sandthistle Music / ASCAP This is a song I wrote back in '99 when I heard of a song contest that the radio show "What Da Ya Know?" was running for a state song for Wisconsin, which is where the show that stars Michael Feldman originates. Well I wrote the song and thought it was pretty good and waited for the month or two to pass that on the air they said they'd wait before choosing winners, and then found out that what I'd heard was a re-broadcast of an earlier pre-recorded show and the contest had actually been held about a year ago. I thought that was pretty funny. So well, I thought, at least I've got a song to show for it. I sent it in to some Wisconsin and La Crosse bureaus of tourism and didn't hear anything back. The version I sent to them was really not like the one I have here, so maybe that was part of it. So am I really from Wisconsin? No not really, but I guess I have some right to write a song about the State and to mention the town of La Crosse where my Grandpa was born and raised and where he first met my Grandma while she was going to college there after having grown up in Staples, Minnesota. I lived in Minnesota during my college years for about eight years too, so I've experienced the winters up there for sure. In fact my first year up there after having moved from Colorado with my family while going to college I took a interim semester class called "Winter Wilderness Leadership", since I was pretty excited about the idea of cross-country skiing and camping out in the winter woods of Northern Wisconsin where the class was to be held. I'd done a lot of winter stuff in Colorado growing up - skiing, sledding, etc. as a kid, so I thought I could handle it. I kind of was ignoring that as a kid I think I'd had a bit of a case of frostbite for my toes, and when you do, they say you're susceptible to poor circulation in your toes from then on, and so also more susceptible to the cold and the potential of getting frostbite. Maybe that was it or I just have poor circulation in my toes when it gets cold. So anyway off our class went cross country sking out into the woods of Northern Wisconsin in January - the dead of winter, and I had a lot of problems with my toes getting frozen up, and the caravan had to keep stopping for me and my frozen toes to thaw out. Over all for the week we were on the trail I think it averaged about 0 to 10 below during the day and fell to 10-20 below when the sun fell and maybe 30-40 below at night. Basically we would ski all day, set up camp, huddle around a campfire bundled up trying to stay warm while drinking hot tea and cocoa, which we were lucky to get inside us before it froze our lips together. I can remember being so close to the fire that when the smoke blew your way you just about started gagging, but you didn't really care because at least you were a little warmer. So we'd huddle around the camp fire and listened to our "leader", who I called the sage of the woods, postulate about the verities of nature when it was 20 below. I think the main thing I learned was that I shouldn't go out for long in 10 below weather because of my toes. But it was a great experience and I did gain a real appreciation for the Indians who had lived like this and made this their home. I don't know how they did it without down jackets. It was really beautiful. So that's my big Wisconsin story. It is a beautiful state. La Crosse is a great little picturesque river town nestled along the banks of the St. Croix River, or is it The Mississippi? I'll have to check. Doug Newman |
(c) 2007 Doug Newman |