“Well, I’d liked to tell him ‘Congratulations.’ ”

That’s what Sue Bass Wilson said yesterday when she learned the sponsor of a bill to change the state song received the shroud award for the “deadest bill of the session.”

Johnny Mack Morrow of Red Bay, who sponsored a bill to change “Alabama” to the state anthem and make “Stars Fell on Alabama” the state song, received the annual coffin-shaped award as the state legislature ended its 2010 session. Morrow had said Alabama needs a more familiar state song for tourism promotions.

Wilson dressed as Julia Tutwiler, who actually wrote the state song, and went to Montgomery twice during the session to protest the bill. She also went to a tea at the governor’s mansion hosted by First Lady Patsy Riley in her “Julia” attire.

Wilson said Morrow “was very cordial to me and a real Southern gentleman.”

“I thought about it all day today, and hoped they didn’t slip the bill in. I’m relieved,” Wilson said.

Wilson also has a Web site protesting the proposed change of the state song, savethealabamastatesong.org.