"Washington, Washington" is a song written in 1978 by two guys from Fidalgo Island, Joseph Vinikow and Glen Arthur Hughes. It is sung to the calypso tune of Jamaica Farewell (as sung by Harry Belafonte). Generations of Anacortes students loved singing this song in elementary school with our music teacher, Pat Rein. Hear it at PNW Folklore.

Washington, Washington

Washington, Washington
Come to the land of the rhododendron
We got the geoduck and the mountain range
The aplet and the cotlet* and the hydroplane

Over the mountains and the waters blue
The founding fathers and the mothers too
Singing, "Soon as we get off the trail
We gonna build us a zoo and a monorail." (CHORUS)

They built a great rotunda
Everybody got under
The founding fathers with vision clear
Named it after their favorite beer (CHORUS)

A major portion, to say the least
Of our fair state lies to the east
A substantial peninsula to the west
Completes the state that we love best (CHORUS)

A land devoid of the alligator
No tsetse fly and no tornado
No pyramid, no Irish stew
Whatever you got, we don't want it too (CHORUS)

A land devoid of the mango tree
Flamingo or dingo and killer bee
No pesky sunshine to spoil the view
Whatever you want, we don't got it too (CHORUS)

Tag: South of the border, down Washington way (repeat)

*This was later changed to "the apple and volcano" — presumably after Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980.