In January 2006, the Commonwealth of Virginia had been without an official state song for almost nine years. "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia," designated the state's anthem in 1940, had been retired in 1997 after civil rights groups protested the song's lyrics, which included such lines as "There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go."

To amend this, State Sen. Charles Colgan (D-Manassas) introduced SB. 682, a bill designating the traditional folk song "Shenandoah" as Virginia's "interim state song". The debate over the song's merits took an odd turn on January 30th, when then-Sen. Cuccinelli filed an amendment to change the bill and replace "Shenandoah" with "Taxman," an anti-big government anthem by the Beatles.