Councilman Seeks Official OC Song

OCEAN CITY -- In an era when nearly every town, building or sports event has an “official” something or other, Ocean City could soon have its own song if one councilman’s idea gets any traction.

Just one week after Ocean City approved Coca-Cola as the new official soft drink of the resort, Councilman Joe Hall at the end of Monday’s regular council meeting pitched the idea of finding an “official song” for the resort. Hall said the idea was inspired by a song entitled “It’s a Shore Thing,” written and performed by local musician and songwriter Tim Landers, which extols nearly all of the virtues of the resort in a catchy three-minute ditty.

Hall told his colleagues Ocean City should consider holding a contest for writing and producing songs about the resort. He also suggested a wide variety of entries could be pared down to a smaller subset, which could then be presented on the town’s website or through its various organizations or social media with the intent of eventually choosing an official song that could be used in the resort’s marketing program.

“I think it would be a neat thing for the town to create a contest and allow the musical talent we have here to create an official Ocean City song,” he said. “We could have a panel narrow it down to 10 or so, and then let the public weigh in on it.”

Joe Hall’s idea at first was quickly dismissed by Council President Jim Hall, who said the elected officials have many more weighty issues to resolve.

“Seriously Joe, we have so much to work on already and we have to work on the budget first and foremost,” he said. “We can’t take on anything else and we already have too much on our plate. If you want to run with this idea, that’s up to you.”

Joe Hall did not back down from the premise, but told his colleagues on the council the idea was too much for one elected official to tackle.

“I can’t do that on my own,” he said. “It’s not the kind of thing a single councilman can do.”

“I don’t think he’s too far off with this,” said Mayor Rick Meehan. “Let me run it by [town advertising agency] MGH and see if there is any merit to this.”

“Sometimes, we’re too quick to shoot down promotional ideas,” he said. “I think it behooves us to keep an open mind.”

“I don’t think it has to be a burden for the council,” she said. “There is nothing wrong with Ocean City having an official song. Maybe we can work with the TAB. That’s what they do.”