OLD FOLKS AT HOME

"'Old Folks at Home'," also known by the words of its first line, "'(Way Down Upon the) Swanee River'," is a song written in 1851 by composer Stephen Foster, to be performed by the New York performing troupe Christy's Minstrels. The name of E. P. Christy, the troupe's leader, appears on early printings of the music as the song's creator, as shown in the illustration; Christy had paid Foster to be credited, something Foster himself had suggested. Though Foster later regretted this, the deal stood. It has been the official state song of Florida since 1935.^[1]
According to legend^[2], Foster had most of the lyrics in place but was casting about to give a name to the river of the opening line and asked his brother to suggest one. The first suggestion was "the Yazoo" of Mississippi, which, despite fitting the melody perfectly, Foster rejected. The second suggestion was "the Pee Dee" of the Carolinas, to which Foster said, "Oh pshaw! I won't have that." His brother then consulted an atlas and called out "Suwannee!". Foster immediately wrote it in (misspelling it "Swanee" to fit the melody¹), saying "That's it exactly!". Foster himself never saw the Suwannee or even visited Florida, but the popularity of the song singlehandedly started a major tourist movement to Florida to see the river, as travelers from the Northeastern states in particular flocked to the region.

Contents

Controversy

Lyrics

Popular culture

External links

References

Controversy

This song is seen by some as showing racism about black Americans for its imitation of Black English Vernacular (the song is sung from the perspective of a black man), with its original lyrics referring to "darkies" and "a-longin' for the old plantation."² Foster himself supported the North in the American Civil War and sympathized with black Americans. In 1997, former state representative Willy Logan presented an unsuccessful motion to have the song replaced. At many public performances, words like "lordy," "mama," "darling," "brothers" or "dear ones" are often used in place of "darkies."
As the official state song of Florida, it had become a tradition for the tune to be performed as part of the inauguration ceremony for incoming Florida governors. However, Charlie Crist decided not to include it in his 2007 inauguration ceremonies. In its place, Crist decided upon "The Florida Song," a composition written by Charles Atkins, a black jazz musician born in Daytona Beach and who now lives in Tallahassee.
As of May 15, 2007, The Florida Music Educators' Association is working in partnership with Senator Tony Hill and Representative Ed Homan to head up the initiative in which all of Florida 's citizens are invited to submit their entries for a new state song. From the press release: "The process officially begins Tuesday (May 15) for Florida's musicians to submit their entries for “Just Sing, Florida!”, the search for a new state song. The Florida Music Educators' Association (FMEA) has created a new web site, http://justsingflorida.org/ , which goes live Tuesday (May 15) and contains rules and submission guidelines. As experts in the field of music, the FMEA will manage the process and coordinate efforts with music educators across the state to collect and cull song submissions."
Most authorities trace the success of "Old Folks at Home" to the same qualities shared by most of Foster's other well-known compositions: a bright, memorable melody.

Lyrics

^[3]Although this song may sometimes be performed with "modern" lyrics that some see as more racially sensitive, the song's original lyrics, included here, have been officially adopted as the lyrics of Florida's state song.¹
:''1st verse''
:Way down upon de Swanee ribber,
:Far, far away,
:Dere's wha my heart is turning ebber,
:Dere's wha de old folks stay.
:All up and down de whole creation
:Sadly I roam,
:Still longing for de old plantation
:And for de old folks at home.
::'Chorus'
::All de world am sad and dreary,
::Ebry where I roam,
::Oh! darkies how my heart grows weary,
::Far from de old folks at home.
:''2nd verse''
:All round de little farm I wandered
:When I was young,
:Den many happy days I squandered,
:Many de songs I sung.
:When I was playing wid my brudder
:Happy was I
:Oh! take me to my kind old mudder,
:Dere let me live and die.
::'Chorus'
:''3rd verse''
:One little hut amond de bushes,
:One dat I love,
:Still sadly to my mem'ry rushes,
:No matter where I rove
:When will I see de bees a humming
:All round de comb?
:When will I hear de banjo tumming
:Down in my good old home?
::'Chorus'

Popular culture

The song is mentioned in Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in the line, "If you want to hear the 'Swanee River' played in ragtime". The song was recorded by boogie woogie pianist Albert Ammons as "Swanee River Boogie" and by Ray Charles as "Swanee River Rock." Under the title "Swanee River," the song was recorded by Tony Sheridan in the early 1960s and is sometimes erroneously listed as an early recording by The Beatles due to their association with Sheridan at that time.
George Gershwin's "Swanee" (1919) was clearly influenced by the popularity of "Old Folks at Home".
In Science Fiction writer John Wyndham's story ''Pillar to Post'', a 20th Century American is marooned in a strange world of the far future, where he is taken to a strange kind of museum: "We went back, back and still back. I wanted to see or hear something of my own time. Suddenly, into that great hall a familiar sound stole softly and mournfully. As I listened to it I had a sense of emptiness and vast desolation. Memories flooded me, a wave of sentimentality and nostalgia for all the hopes and joys and childhood that had vanished, and the tears streamed upon my face. I did not go to that museum again. And the music which conjured a whole world from the aged dust? No, it was not a Beethoven symphony, nor a Mozart concerto; it was, I confess, 'The Old Folks at Home'...".
In what some consider to be the funniest moment on the 1950s sitcom The Honeymooners, Ralph Kramden becomes a contestant on a game show where he has to answer questions about popular music. To practice, he has his neighbor Ed Norton play songs on the piano as he identifies them. To warm up, Ed would play the first couple of bars of "Swanee River," to Ralph's great irritation. Ironically, the first question asked of him on the show was to identify the composer of "Swanee River." When Ralph goes blank, the host has the band play the opening notes of the song. Ralph, recognizing it as the until-now nameless tune he's been hearing all the previous week, is horrified and finally stammers "Ed Norton" as his guess.

External links

★ Closeup of Foster's notebook page with first draft of "Old Folks at Home", including substitution of "Pedee" with "Swannee"

★ Old Folks at Home, from the Center for American Music, home of the Foster Hall Collection

★ New York Times article on Foster mentioning "Old Folks at Home"

★ www.negrophile.com article on lyrics, alternate state songs

★ Recording of "Old Folks at Home" at the 1955 Florida Folk Festival; made available for public use by the State Archives of Florida

★ Alternate recording by The 97th Regimental String Band

References

1. Florida State Song The Swanee River
2. Old Folks at Home Center for American Music
3. source: Christy, E. P. [sic]. ''Old folks at home : Ethiopian melody as sung by Christy's Minstrels.'' New York : Firth, Pond & Co., [date obscured].