|
Some Common Myths Thought to be True - Myth 142
Myth 142: The Swanee River from "Old Folks at Home" is the
State Song of Florida
Written for performance by the New York blackface troupe Christy's Minstrels,
the song has E. P. Christy, the troupe's leader, appearing as its creator on
early printings of the sheet music. Christy had paid Foster to be credited,
something Foster himself had suggested though later regretted.
Foster had composed most of the lyrics but was trying to give a name to the
river of the opening line and asked his brother to suggest one. The first
suggestion was "Yazoo" (in Mississippi), which despite fitting the melody
perfectly, Foster rejected. The second suggestion was "Pee Dee" (in South
Carolina), to which Foster said, "Oh pshaw! I won't have that." His brother
then consulted an atlas and called out "Suwannee!" Foster said "That's it
exactly!" He wrote it in immediately (misspelling it "Swanee" to fit the
melody).
|
Foster himself never saw the Suwannee or even visited Florida, but the
popularity of the song initiated tourism to Florida to see the river and since
1935 it has been the official state song of Florida, although in 2008 the
original lyrics were expurgated.
As the official state song of Florida, "Old Folks at Home" has traditionally
been sung as part of a Florida governor's inauguration ceremony. However, over
time, the lyrics were progressively altered to be less offensive; as Diane
Roberts observed:
Florida got enlightened in 1978; we substituted "brothers" for "darkies."
There were subsequent revisions. At Jeb Bush's second inauguration as governor
in 2003, a young black woman gave a moving, non-dialect rendition of "Old Folks
at Home," except "still longing for the old plantation" came out "still longing
for my old connection." Perhaps someone confused Stephen Foster's lyrics with a
cell phone commercial.
|