"Deep in the Heart of Texas" is an American popular song elaborating on the merits of the state of Texas.
The 1941 song features lyrics by June Hershey and music by Don Swander. The song was recorded by Perry Como with Ted Weems and His Orchestra on December 9 of that year for Decca Records in Los Angeles, California. It was a single release on the flip side of the song "Ollie Ollie Out's In Free." "Deep in the Heart of Texas" spent five weeks at the top of Your Hit Parade in 1942.
The song's title was borrowed for the name of a 1942 Western film starring Johnny Mack Brown as a man instrumental in restoring Texas to the United States following the American Civil War. It featured Tex Ritter and the Jimmy Wakely Trio singing the title song. Gene Autry sang the song in Heart of the Rio Grande (1942) and his version may be the most well known.
The first recording was by Alvino Rey on November 21 for Bluebird. Bing Crosby with Woody Herman & His Woodchoppers recorded a version that reached #3 on the Billboard charts that year. Other artists to record the song include Ray Charles, Hank Thompson, Bob Grant, George Strait, and Nickel Creek.
The University of Texas Longhorn Band performs the song during each football pregame at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium; The Spirit of Houston Cougar Marching Band often performs the tune for home football games at Robertson Stadium; and the Texas Christian University Horned Frog Marching Band performs an arrangement during each pregame at Amon Carter Stadium. Fans sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", followed by "Deep In the Heart of Texas" during the seventh-inning stretch of Houston Astros and Rice University Owls baseball games.