Purple iris flowers; photo by cobalt123 on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike).
Official State Song of Tennessee
Tennessee designated "When it's Iris Time in Tennessee" by Willa Waid Newman as an official state song in 1935 (iris is also a state flower of Tennessee). Official Tennessee Songs - All State Songs
LYRICS
Sweetness of Spring memories bring
Of a place I long to be.
Land of Sunshine calls this old heart of mine,
Come back to Tennessee.
VERSE 2
Rocks and the rills deep tinted hills,
There’s no spot so dear to me,
Where’er I roam still it’s my Home Sweet Home,
My own, my Tennessee.
CHORUS
When it’s Iris time down in Tennessee,
I’ll be coming back to stay
Where the mockingbird sings at the break of day
A lilting love song gay.
Where the Iris grows,
Where the Harpeth flows,
That is where I long to be.
There’s a picture there that lives in memory
When it’s Iris time in Tennessee