Oh, say, can we get an official state song?

TRENTON - Red Mascara has a dream.

He has been close to it. Again and again - and again.

Seven times his song "I'm From New Jersey," written in 1960, has been approved by legislators to become the official New Jersey song, but it has never made it into law, leaving New Jersey the only state without an official ditty.

Now 85, Mascara - a frequent presence at the Statehouse, where he continues lobbying lawmakers and doles out candy to make friends - is worried his 47-year-old dream is slipping away.

"Please do it while I'm living," said Mascara, of Phillipsburg. "Let me experience the pleasure."

Despite Mascara's persistence, a state senator has proposed that New Jersey adopt the hit Bon Jovi song "Who Says You Can't Go Home" as its official song. The band's leader, Jon Bon Jovi, is from Sayreville.

"That song, it brings tears to my eyes," said Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D., Union). "The guy's been all around the world, and he picks New Jersey to hang his hat."

Like all states, New Jersey has its symbols.

The violet is the state flower, the eastern goldfinch the state bird, the red oak the state tree. It even has a state shell - the knobbed whelk.

But while Colorado celebrates "Rocky Mountain High" and Georgia venerates "Georgia on My Mind" and "On, Wisconsin" rings through America's Dairyland, New Jersey has failed to adopt a song despite bids dating back to 1794, when Gov. Richard Howell wrote a song used by troops heading off to help quell the Whiskey Rebellion.

Mascara's melody passed the Assembly in 1966, 1968, 1971 and 1980. It passed the Senate in 1982. It passed both houses in 1972 and 1979, but wasn't signed into law.

"It's made me feel bad," Mascara said of his near-misses.

To him, Bon Jovi's song doesn't cut it. It never mentions New Jersey.

"If you have a song about New Jersey, you should at least say 'I'm from New Jersey, and I'm proud about it,' " he said, referencing his song's opening line.

But Lesniak said Bon Jovi's song says it all with lyrics such as, "These are my streets, the only life I've ever known. Who says you can't go home."

"I don't think it's that bad of an idea" to have a Bon Jovi state song, Lesniak said. "No disrespect to Bruce."

Bruce, of course, is Freehold native Bruce Springsteen, New Jersey's other rock icon. In 1980, the Assembly approved making Springsteen's "Born to Run" the state's unofficial rock theme, but the Senate never followed.

While the song is a rock classic, and Lesniak said he was foremost a Springsteen fan, he noted "Born to Run" lyrics such as: "It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap. We gotta get out while we're young."

"That's not exactly fitting for a state song, you know," Lesniak said.

But adopting Bon Jovi's musings about returning home after a life on the road would be a great way to promote the state, Lesniak said. The tune has already been used in television ads promoting New Jersey tourism.

"I was just musing what a great state New Jersey is," Lesniak said. "We're the wealthiest. We're the most educated. The Rutgers football team is doing great. So is the women's basketball team. We better start talking about some good things about New Jersey."

But a song may not be the way to do it.

A state song is "a nice thing, but it's certainly not at the top of my legislative agenda," said Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D., Mercer).

Mascara, the father of two children and retired from a Phillipsburg chemical plant, wrote his song after Gov. Robert Meyner mentioned he was disappointed New Jersey lacked one. Meyner was from Phillipsburg, and Mascara said they knew each other. He even wrote a song for Meyner's reelection campaign.

"If the governor were walking down the aisle at a convention, marching down the street in a parade or making his entrance into a hall, it would be appropriate if the name of the song being played were 'I'm From New Jersey', " said Mascara, whose real first name is Joseph.

Lesniak isn't dismissing Mascara's song. In fact, he remains a cosponsor of legislation to make it the official state anthem.

"Nice guy, great guy," Lesniak said before adding with a chuckle, "but he doesn't have a number-one hit."