In 1920, the Society of Oregon Composers held a competition to select a state song for Oregon. The winning entry, "Oregon, My Oregon," was a collaboration between John Andrew Buchanan, who wrote the lyrics, and Henry Bernard Murtagh, who composed the music. Buchanan was an amateur lyricist who was an Astoria city judge, while Murtagh was a professional musician with a Broadway credit, but who was best known as a professionally trained theatre organist on the West Coast during the silent movie era.