John Riggs misses Mississippi. He writes about it in the aptly named “I Miss Mississippi.”

He doesn’t miss it too much, obviously, since his home is in Nashville. But that isn’t stopping the writer from wanting his song to replace “Go, Mississippi” as the official Mississippi state song. Most people around here probably don’t even know we have a state song, let alone have someone who wants to change it. We also have a state fossil, prehistoric whale, and a state beverage, milk, but no one yet has proposed changing those.

Riggs’ song mentions the Delta and Elvis, Jackson and Holly Springs. There even is a mention of Vicksburg, but then again how rare is that? Lucinda Williams and Robert Johnson, just to name two, have songs mentioning Vicksburg.

Mentioning cities alone, though, does not a great state song make. State songs must be positive. No one wants to hear a state song about how fat and poor we are. Riggs writes that he can “See Mississippi” in his dreams, from the fertile Delta bottomland — an understatement these days — to the coastline filled with fine, warm sand. He certainly nailed the second prerequisite for a song — flowery.

Riggs attempts to rhyme farms, charm and born in a line about Elvis. Say those words three times and try to rhyme them. It’s either a form or a barn. Elvis was born in a shack, not in a barn.

Two verses later, he rhymes fields, mills and feels. In New York, a feel is a field, as in, “Hey, get that guy off the feel.”

He misses Holly Springs and Jackson, and aches for the soldiers who fell in action — rhymes with Jackson — at Vicksburg.

He smells sweet magnolias and plans on packing as soon as he can. He’s going to Mississippi (at least in song).

Nearly 50 years have passed since Houston Davis’ “Go, Mississippi” was chosen as the state song. His lyrics read more like a high school fight song. Imagine a cheerleaders’ halftime routine:

“Go, Mississippi, keep rolling along

“Go, Mississippi, you cannot go wrong.

“Go, Mississippi, we’re singing your song

“M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I.”

Certainly a positive song, and flowery. “Go, Mississippi” is safe. Like the old saying, if it isn’t broke, etc. etc. But I don’t make those decisions.

While we are at it, though, you think we could do something about the state beverage? I have a few hoppy ideas I would like to submit.

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Sean P. Murphy is web editor. He can be reached at smurphy@vicksburgpost.com