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Dixie (song)
Encyclopedia
Countless lyrical variants of "Dixie" exist, but the version attributed to Dan Emmett and its variations are the most popular. Emmett's lyrics as they were originally intended reflect the mood of the United States in the late 1850s toward growing abolitionist
sentiment. The song presented the point of view, common to minstrelsy at the time, that slavery
was overall a positive institution. The pining slave had been used in minstrel tunes since the early 1850s, including Emmett's "I Ain't Got Time to Tarry
" and "Johnny Roach". The fact that "Dixie" and its precursors are dance tunes
only further made light of the subject. In short, "Dixie" made the case, more strongly than any previous minstrel tune had, that slaves belonged in bondage. This was accomplished through the song's protagonist, who, in comic black dialect
, implies that despite his freedom, he is homesick for the plantation
of his birth:
The remaining verses drift into the common minstrel idiom of a comical plantation scenario, "supposedly [depicting] the gayer side of life for slaves on Southern plantations":
The final verse mixes nonsense
and dance steps with the freed-slave scenario:
The lyrics use many common phrases found in minstrel tunes of the day—"I wish I was in . . ." dates to at least "Clare de Kitchen
" (early 1830s), and "Away down south in . . ." appears in many more songs, including Emmett's "I'm Gwine ober de Mountain
" (1843). The second stanza
clearly echoes "Gumbo Chaff" from the 1830s: "Den Missus she did marry Big Bill de weaver / Soon she found out he was a gay deceiver". The final stanza rewords portions of Emmett's own "De Wild Goose-Nation": "De tarapin he thot it was time for to trabble / He screw aron his tail and begin to scratch grabble." Even the phrase "Dixie's land" had been used in Emmett's "Johnny Roach" and "I Ain't Got Time to Tarry", both first performed earlier in 1859.
As with other minstrel material, "Dixie" entered common circulation among blackface performers, and many of them added their own verses or altered the song in other ways. Emmett himself adopted the tune for a pseudo-African American spiritual
in the 1870s or 1880s. The chorus changed to:
Both Union and Confederate composers produced war versions of the song during the American Civil War
. These variants standardized the spelling and made the song more militant, replacing the slave scenario with specific references to the conflict or to Northern or Southern pride. This Confederate
verse by Albert Pike
is representative:
Compare Frances J. Crosby's Union
lyrics:
The Confederate States of America War Song Goes Like This:
Southern men the thunders mutter!
Northern flags in South winds flutter!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Send them back your fierce defiance!
Stamp upon the cursed alliance!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie! Hurrah! Hurrah!
In Dixie's land we take our stand, and live or die for Dixie!
To arms! To arms! And conquer peace for Dixie!
To arms! To arms! And conquer peace for Dixie
Fear no danger! Shun no labor!
Lift up rifle, pike, and saber!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Shoulder pressing close to shoulder,
Let the odds make each heart bolder!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie! Hurrah! Hurrah!
In Dixie's land we take our stand, and live or die for Dixie!
To arms! To arms! And conquer peace for Dixie!
To arms! To arms! And conquer peace for Dixie!
Swear upon your country's altar
Never to submit or falter--
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Till the spoilers are defeated,
Till the Lord's work is completed!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
"The New Dixie!: The True 'Dixie' for Northern Singers" takes a different approach, turning the original song on its head:
Soldiers on both sides wrote endless parody
versions of the song. Often these discussed the banalities of camp life: "Pork and cabbage in the pot, / It goes in cold and comes out hot," or, "Vinegar put right on red beet, / It makes them always fit to eat". Others were more nonsensical: "Way down South in the fields of cotton, / Vinegar shoes and paper stockings".
Aside from its being rendered in standard English, the chorus was the only section not regularly altered, even for parodies. The first verse and chorus, in non-dialect form, are the best-known portions of the song today:
According to tradition, Ohio
-born minstrel show composer Daniel Decatur Emmett wrote "Dixie" around 1859. Over his lifetime, Emmett often recounted the story of its composition, and details vary with each account. For example, in various versions of the story, Emmett claimed to have written "Dixie" in a few minutes, in a single night, and over a few days. An 1872 edition of The New York Clipper provides one of the earliest accounts, claiming that on a Saturday night shortly after Emmett had been taken on as songwriter for the Bryant's Minstrels, Jerry Bryant told him they would need a new walkaround by the following Monday. By this account, Emmett shut himself inside his New York
flat and wrote the song that Sunday evening.
Other details emerge in later accounts. In one, Emmett claimed that "Suddenly, . . . I jumped up and sat down at the table to work. In less than an hour I had the first verse and chorus. After that it was easy." In another version, Emmett stared out at the rainy evening and thought, "I wish I was in Dixie." Then, "Like a flash the thought suggested the first line of the walk-around, and a little later the minstrel, fiddle in hand, was working out the melody" (a different story has it that Emmett's wife uttered the famous line). Yet another variant, dated to 1903, further changes the details: "I was standing by the window, gazing out at the drizzly, raw day, and the old circus feeling came over me. I hummed the old refrain, 'I wish I was in Dixie,' and the inspiration struck me. I took my pen and in ten minutes had written the first verses with music. The remaining verses were easy." In his final years, Emmett even claimed to have written the song years before he had moved to New York. A Washington Post article supports this, giving a composition date of 1843.
Emmett published "Dixie" (under the title "I Wish I Was in Dixie's Land") on 21 June 1860 through Firth, Pond & Co.
in New York. The original manuscript
has been lost; extant copies were made during Emmett's retirement, starting in the 1890s. Emmett's tardiness registering the copyright
for the song allowed it to proliferate among other minstrel groups and variety show
performers. Rival editions and variations multiplied in songbooks, newspaper
s and broadside
s. The earliest of these that is known today is a copyrighted edition for piano from the John Church Company
of Cincinnati
, published on 26 June 1860. Other publishers attributed completely made-up composers with the song: "Jerry Blossom" and "Dixie, Jr.", among others. The most serious of these challenges during Emmett's lifetime came from Southerner William Shakespeare Hays
; this claimant attempted to prove his allegations through a Southern historical society, but he died before they could produce any conclusive evidence.. By 1908, four years after Emmett's death, no fewer than 37 people had claimed the song as theirs.
"Dixie" is the only song Emmett ever claimed to have written in a burst of inspiration, and analysis of Emmett's notes and writings shows "a meticulous copyist, [who] spent countless hours collecting and composing songs and sayings for the minstrel stage . . . ; little evidence was left for the improvisational moment." The New York Clipper wrote in 1872 that "[Emmett's] claim to authorship of 'Dixie' was and is still disputed, both in and out of the minstrel profession." Emmett himself said, "Show people generally, if not always, have the chance to hear every local song as they pass through the different sections of [the] country, and particularly so with minstrel companies, who are always on the look out for songs and sayings that will answer their business." He claimed at one point to have based the first part of "Dixie" on "Come Philander Let's Be Marchin, Every One for His True Love Searchin", which he described as a "song of his childhood days". Musical analysis does show some similarities in the melodic
outline, but the songs are not closely related. Emmett also credited "Dixie" to an old circus song. Despite the disputed authorship, Firth, Pond & Co. paid Emmett $300 for all rights to "Dixie" on 11 February 1861, perhaps fearing complications spurred by the impending Civil War.
folk tune. Taken at face value, these claims are hardly surprising, as minstrels often billed themselves as authentic delineators of slave material. Names of these chance-met black songwriters were rarely given.
However, a Mount Vernon
, Ohio
, tradition, which dates to the 1910s or 1920s at the latest, lends some credence to this notion. Many Mount Vernon residents claim that Emmett collaborated informally with a pair of black musicians named Ben and Lew Snowden. Those who remember the Snowden brothers describe them as "informal", "spontaneous", "creative", and "relatively free of concern over ownership" of their songs. The Snowden brothers were part of the Snowden Family Band
, which was well known for traveling about the region. That Emmett might have met and played with these local celebrities is hardly surprising. The story is well enough known that the grave marker for Ben and Lew Snowden, set in 1976 by the black American Legion
post, reads, "They taught 'Dixie' to Dan Emmett".
The Snowden theory has, however, one serious flaw. While Emmett likely did meet and play with Ben and Lew Snowden when he retired to Knox County
, the Snowden brothers would have been only small children at the time Emmett composed "Dixie". Howard L. Sacks and Judith Sacks suggest that the Ohio legend may in fact be off by a generation, and that Emmett could have collaborated instead with the Snowden parents, Thomas and Ellen. This idea dates to at least 1978, in a genealogical history of the Robert Greer family of Knox County.
Circumstantial evidence
suggests that this is possible. Emmett's grandparents owned the farm adjacent to the Snowden homestead, and Emmett's father was one of a few blacksmiths to whom Thomas Snowden could have brought his horses for shoeing. Furthermore, an unpublished biography of Emmett, written in 1935 by a friend of the Emmett family, Mary McClane, says that Emmett visited Mt. Vernon several times from 1835 until the 1860s and toured the surrounding area giving fiddle performances. Emmett certainly refers to Knox County in other songs, including "Seely Simpkins Jig
", which refers to a fiddler there, and "Owl Creek Quickstep
", which is named for an early settlement in the area.
Advocates of the Snowden theory believe that the lyrics of "Dixie" are a protest through irony
and parody against the institution of slavery. The references to "Cimmon seed an' sandy bottom" in one version of the song may refer to Nanjemoy
, Maryland
, Ellen Snowden's birthplace, and located in an area that was known for its persimmons and sandy, wet lowlands. Slaves rarely knew their exact birth date, instead recalling broad details that someone was born, for example, "Early on one frosty mornin'". A domestic slave, as Ellen Snowden had been, would have been well placed to witness a love affair between "Old Missus" and "Will-de-weaber". Food imagery, such as "buck-wheat cake" and "'Ingen' batter", further points to a writer who had some experience as a cook.
A 1950 article by Ada Bedell Wootton claims that Ben and Lew Snowden sometimes played with Dan Emmett during the minstrel's retirement. At his death in 1923, Lew Snowden owned a small box of newspaper clippings asserting Emmett's authorship of "Dixie". He also had a small framed photograph of Emmett, a fixture on the Snowden house's wall for years, with the text "Author of 'Dixie'!" written under the minstrel's name. Scholars such as Clint Johnson
, Robert James Branham, and Stephen J. Hartnett accept the claims of black origin for the song or at least allow for the possibility. Nevertheless, many scholars, such as E. Lawrence Abel, dismiss the Snowden claims outright.
Bryant's Minstrels premiered "Dixie" in New York City on 4 April 1859 as part of their blackface minstrel show. It appeared second to last on the bill, perhaps an indication of the Bryants' lack of faith that the song could carry the minstrel show's entire finale. The walkaround was billed as a "plantation song and dance". It was a runaway success, and the Bryants quickly made it their standard closing number.
"Dixie" quickly gained wide recognition and status as a minstrel standard, and it helped rekindle interest in plantation material from other troupes, particularly in the third act. It became a favorite of Abraham Lincoln's
and was played during his campaign in 1860. The New York Clipper wrote that it was "one of the most popular compositions ever produced" and that it had "been sung, whistled, and played in every quarter of the globe." Buckley's Serenaders
performed the song in London
in late 1860, and by the end of the decade, it had found its way into the repertoire of British sailors. As the American Civil War broke out, one New Yorker wrote,
The Rumsey and Newcomb Minstrels brought "Dixie" to New Orleans
in March 1860; the walkaround became the hit of their show. That April, Mrs. John Wood
sang "Dixie" in a John Brougham
burlesque
called Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage
, increasing the song's popularity in New Orleans. On the surface "Dixie" seems an unlikely candidate for a Southern hit; it has a Northern composer, stars a black protagonist, is intended as a dance song, and lacks any of the patriotic bluster of most national hymns and marches. Had it not been for the atmosphere of sectionalism
in which "Dixie" debuted, it might have faded into obscurity. Nevertheless, the refrain "In Dixie Land I'll took my stand / To lib an die in Dixie", coupled with the first verse and its sanguine picture of the South, hit a chord. Woods's New Orleans audience demanded no fewer than seven encores.
New Orleans publisher P. P. Werlein took advantage and published "Dixie" in New Orleans. He credited music to J. C. Viereck and Newcomb for lyrics. When the minstrel denied authorship, Werlein changed the credit to W. H. Peters. Werlein's version, subtitled "Sung by Mrs. John Wood", was the first "Dixie" to do away with the faux black dialect and misspellings. The publication did not go unnoticed, and Firth Pond & Co. threatened to sue. The date on Werlein's sheet music
precedes that of Firth, Pond & Co.'s version, but Emmett later recalled that Werlein had sent him a letter offering to buy the rights for $5. In a New York musical publishers' convention, Firth, Pond & Co. succeeded in convincing those present that Emmett was the composer. In future editions of Werlein's arrangement, Viereck is merely credited as "arranger
". Whether ironically or sincerely, Emmett dedicated a sequel called "I'm Going Home to Dixie
" to Werlein in 1861.
"Dixie" quickly spread to the rest of the South, enjoying vast popularity. By the end of 1860, secessionists had adopted it as theirs; on 20 December the band played "Dixie" after each vote for secession at St. Andrew's Hall
in Charleston
, South Carolina
. On 18 February 1861, the song took on something of the air of national anthem
when it was played at the inauguration of Jefferson Davis
, arranged as a quickstep
by Hermann Arnold, and possibly for the first time as a band arrangement. Emmett himself reportedly told a fellow minstrel that year that "If I had known to what use they were going to put my song, I will be damned if I'd have written it."
In May 1861 Confederate Henry Hotze
wrote:
Southerners who shunned the song's low origins and comedic nature changed the lyrics, usually to focus on Southern pride and the war. Albert Pike's enjoyed the most popularity; the Natchez (Mississippi) Courier published it on 30 May 1861 as "The War Song of Dixie", followed by Werlein, who again credited Viereck for composition. Henry Throop Stanton
published another war-themed "Dixie", which he dedicated to "the Boys in Virginia". The defiant "In Dixie Land I'll take my stand / To live and die in Dixie" were the only lines used with any consistency. The tempo also quickened, as the song was a useful quickstep tune. Confederate soldiers by and large preferred these war versions to the original minstrel lyrics. "Dixie" was probably the most popular song for Confederate soldiers on the march, in battle, and at camp.
Southerners who rallied to the song proved reluctant to acknowledge a Yankee
as its composer. Accordingly, some ascribed it a longer tradition as a folk song. Poet John Hill Hewitt
wrote in 1862 that "The homely air of 'Dixie', of extremely doubtful origin . . . [is] generally believed to have sprung from a noble stock of Southern stevedore
melodies."
Meanwhile, many Northerners took offense to the South's appropriation of "Dixie". Before even the fall of Fort Sumter
, Frances J. Crosby published "Dixie for the Union" and "Dixie Unionized". The tune formed part of the repertoire of both Union band
s and common troops until 1863. Broadsides circulated with titles like "The Union 'Dixie'" or "The New Dixie, the True 'Dixie' for Northern Singers". Northern "Dixies" branded Southerners as traitors and resorted to pure insults. Emmett himself arranged "Dixie" for the military in a book of fife
instruction in 1862, and a 1904 work by Charles Burleigh Galbreath claims that Emmett gave his official sanction to Crosby's Union lyrics. At least 39 versions of the song, both vocal and instrumental, were published between 1860 and 1866.
Northerners, Emmett among them, also declared that the "Dixie Land" of the song was actually in the North. One common story, still cited today, claimed that Dixie was a Manhattan
slave owner who had sent his slaves south just before New York's 1827 banning of slavery. The stories had little effect; for most Americans "Dixie" was synonymous with the South.
On 10 April 1865, one day after the surrender of General Robert E. Lee
, Lincoln addressed a White House crowd:
By that and other actions, Lincoln demonstrated his willingness to be concilliatory to the South and to restore the Union as soon as practicable.
"Dixie" slowly re-entered Northern repertoires, mostly in private performances. New Yorkers resurrected stories about "Dixie" being a part of Manhattan, thus reclaiming the song for themselves. The New York Weekly wrote, "... no one ever heard of Dixie's land being other than Manhattan Island until recently, when it has been erroneously supposed to refer to the South, from its connection with pathetic negro allegory." In 1888 the publishers of a Boston songbook included "Dixie" as a "patriotic song", and in 1895 the Confederate Veterans' Association suggested a celebration in honor of "Dixie" and Emmett in Washington as a bipartisan tribute. One of the planners noted that:
However, "Dixie" was still most strongly associated with the South. Northern singers and writers often used it for parody or as a quotation
in other pieces to establish a person or setting as Southern. For example, African American
s Eubie Blake
and Noble Sissle
quoted "Dixie" in the song "Banana Days" for their 1921 musical
Shuffle Along
. In 1905 the United Daughters of the Confederacy
mounted a campaign to acknowledge an official Southern version of the song (one that would purge it forever of its African American associations). Although they obtained the support of the United Confederate Veterans
and the United Sons of Confederate Veterans, Emmett's death the year before turned sentiments against the project, and the groups were ultimately unsuccessful in having any of the 22 entries universally adopted.
As African Americans entered minstrelsy, they exploited the song's popularity in the South by playing "Dixie" as they first arrived in a Southern town. According to Tom Fletcher, a black minstrel of the time, it tended to please those who might otherwise be antagonistic to the arrival of a group of black men.
Still, "Dixie" was not rejected outright in the North. An article in the New York Tribune
, c. 1908, said that "though 'Dixie' came to be looked upon as characteristically a song of the South, the hearts of the Northern people never grew cold to it. President Lincoln loved it, and to-day it is the most popular song in the country, irrespective of section." As late as 1934, the music journal The Etude asserted that "the sectional sentiment attached to Dixie has been long forgotten; and today it is heard everywhere—North, East, South, West."
"Dixie" had become Emmett's most enduring legacy. In the 1900 census of Knox County, Emmett's occupation is given as "author of Dixie". The band at Emmett's funeral played "Dixie" as he was lowered into his grave. His grave marker, placed 20 years after his death, reads,
To the Memory of
Daniel Decatur Emmett
1815—1904
Whose Song 'Dixie Land' inspired the courage
and Devotion of the Southern People and now
Thrills the Hearts of a Reunited Nation.
expression meaning "[engaging] in unrealistically rosy fantasizing". For example, "Don't just sit there whistling 'Dixie'!" is a reprimand against inaction, and "You ain't just whistling 'Dixie'!" indicates that the addressee is serious about the matter at hand.
However, it is likely that the phrase "Whistling Dixie" made its way into the American lexicon with the assistance of a far more ancient legal term: Ipse Dixit
. "Ipse Dixit", which refers to "a statement spoken, but not proved", is distinctly similar in pronunciation to "Whistlin' Dixie", and has nearly identical usage. Indeed, the substitution of the latter for the former would have been an excellent way of putting legal jargon into layman's terms.
relic of the Confederacy and a reminder of decades of white domination and segregation
. These feelings were amplified when white opponents to civil rights began answering songs such as "We Shall Overcome
" with the unofficial Confederate anthem.
The earliest of these protests came from students of Southern universities, where "Dixie" was a staple of a number of marching bands. In 1967 black cadets at The Citadel
refused to stand for "Dixie" or to sing and perform it at football games. Similar protests have since occurred at the University of Virginia
, the Georgia Institute of Technology
, and Tulane University
. In 1968, the President of the University of Miami
banned the song from its band's performances. In 2002, the University of Mississippi's vice chancellors attempted to compromise by adding more general American pieces to the band's playlist and by restricting the playing of "Dixie" to twice per game. Following the 2009 football season, however, the song was officially removed from the band's performances.
The debate has since moved beyond student populations. Members of the 75th United States Army Band
protested "Dixie" in 1971. In 1989 three black Georgia senators walked out when the Miss Georgia Sweet Potato Queen sang "Dixie" in the Georgia chamber. Meanwhile, many black musicologists have challenged the song's racist origins. For example, Sam Dennison writes that "Today, the performance of 'Dixie' still conjures visions of an unrepentant, militarily recalcitrant South, ready to reassert its aged theories of white supremacy at any moment . . . This is why the playing of 'Dixie' still causes hostile reactions."
On the other hand, for many Southerners, "Dixie", like the Confederate flag, is a symbol of Southern heritage and identity. Southern schools maintain the "Dixie" fight song
, often coupled with the Rebel mascot and the Confederate battle flag school symbol, despite protests. Confederate heritage websites regularly feature the song, and Confederate heritage groups routinely sing "Dixie" at their gatherings. In his song "Dixie on My Mind
", country musician Hank Williams, Jr.
, cites the absence of "Dixie" on Northern radio stations as an example of how Northern culture pales in comparison to its Southern counterpart. Others consider the song a part of the patriotic American repertoire on a par with "America the Beautiful
" and "Yankee Doodle
". For example, Chief Justice William Rehnquist
regularly included "Dixie" in his annual sing-along
for the 4th Circuit Judicial Conference in Virginia
. However, its performance prompted some African American lawyers to avoid the event.
Campaigns against "Dixie" and other Confederate symbols have helped create a sense of political ostracism and marginalization among working-class white Southerners. Confederate heritage groups and literature proliferated in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to criticism of the song. Journalist Clint Johnson calls modern opposition to "Dixie" "an open, not-at-all-secret conspiracy" and an example of political correctness
. Johnson claims that modern versions of the song are not racist and simply reinforce that the South "extols family and tradition." Other supporters, such as State Senator Glenn McConnell of South Carolina, have called the attempts to suppress the song cultural genocide
.
Performers who choose to sing "Dixie" today usually remove the black dialect and combine the song with other pieces. For example, Rene Marie's
jazz version mixes "Dixie" with "Strange Fruit
", a Billie Holiday
song about a lynching
. Mickey Newbury's
"An American Trilogy
" (often performed by Elvis Presley
) combines "Dixie" with the Union's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the negro spiritual "All My Trials
".
However, in modern times "Dixie" is usually heard as an instrumental piece. Thus, to countless people "Dixie" signifies nothing more than "Southern United States". This interpretation has been reinforced through years of American popular culture. For example, the soundtracks of cartoons featuring Southern characters like Foghorn Leghorn often play "Dixie" to quickly set the scene. On the television series The Dukes of Hazzard
, which takes place in Georgia
, the car horn of the General Lee plays part of the melody from the song. Sacks and Sacks argue that such apparently innocent associations only further serve to tie "Dixie" to its blackface origins, as these comedic programs are, like the minstrel show, "inelegant, parodic [and] dialect-ridden". On the other hand, Poole sees the "Dixie" car horn, mimicked by white Southerners, as another example of the song's role as a symbol of "working-class revolt". However, in more serious fare, "Dixie" signals "Southern". For example, Max Steiner
quotes the song in the opening scene of his late 1930s score to Gone with the Wind
as a down-beat nostalgic instrumental to set the scene and Ken Burns
makes use of instrumental versions in his 1990 Civil War
documentary.
In a widely publicized and controversial incident, Senator Jesse Helms
deeply offended Carol Moseley Braun
, the first black woman in the Senate and the only black Senator at the time. Soon after the 1993 Senate vote on the Confederate flag insignia, which opponents saw as an overt symbol of racism—both for the history of racial slavery in the United States and for establishment of Jim Crow laws
—Helms ran into Moseley Braun in an elevator. Helms turned to his friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), and said, "Watch me make her cry. I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing 'Dixie' until she cries." He then proceeded to sing the song about "the good life" during slavery
to Moseley Braun.
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
sentiment. The song presented the point of view, common to minstrelsy at the time, that slavery
History of slavery in the United States
Slavery in the United States was a form of slave labor which existed as a legal institution in North America for more than a century before the founding of the United States in 1776, and continued mostly in the South until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in...
was overall a positive institution. The pining slave had been used in minstrel tunes since the early 1850s, including Emmett's "I Ain't Got Time to Tarry
I Ain't Got Time to Tarry
"I Ain't Got Time to Tarry", also known as "The Land of Freedom", is an American song written by blackface minstrel composer Dan Emmett. It premiered in a minstrel show performance by Bryant's Minstrels in late November 1858. The song was published in New York City in 1859.The lyrics tell of a...
" and "Johnny Roach". The fact that "Dixie" and its precursors are dance tunes
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
only further made light of the subject. In short, "Dixie" made the case, more strongly than any previous minstrel tune had, that slaves belonged in bondage. This was accomplished through the song's protagonist, who, in comic black dialect
African American Vernacular English
African American Vernacular English —also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Black English Vernacular , or Black Vernacular English —is an African American variety of American English...
, implies that despite his freedom, he is homesick for the plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
of his birth:
- I wish I was in the land of cotton,
- Old times they are not forgotten;
- Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
- In Dixie Land where I was born,
- Early on one frosty mornin,
- Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
The remaining verses drift into the common minstrel idiom of a comical plantation scenario, "supposedly [depicting] the gayer side of life for slaves on Southern plantations":
- Old Missus marry "Will-de-weaber,"
- Willium was a gay deceaber;
- Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
- But when he put his arm around'er,
- He smiled as fierce as a forty-pound'er,
- Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
The final verse mixes nonsense
Nonsense
Nonsense is a communication, via speech, writing, or any other symbolic system, that lacks any coherent meaning. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous...
and dance steps with the freed-slave scenario:
- Dar's buck-wheat cakes an 'Ingen' batter,
- Makes you fat or a little fatter;
- Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
- Den hoe it down an scratch your grabble,
- To Dixie land I'm bound to trabble.
- Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
The lyrics use many common phrases found in minstrel tunes of the day—"I wish I was in . . ." dates to at least "Clare de Kitchen
Clare de Kitchen
"Clare de Kitchen" is an American song from the blackface minstrel tradition. It dates to 1832, when blackface performers such as George Nichols, Thomas D. Rice, and George Washington Dixon began to sing it. These performers and American writers such as T. Allston Brown traced the song's origins to...
" (early 1830s), and "Away down south in . . ." appears in many more songs, including Emmett's "I'm Gwine ober de Mountain
I'm Gwine ober de Mountain
"I'm Gwine ober de Mountain", also spelled "I'm Going ober de Mountain", is an American song written by blackface minstrel composer Dan Emmett. The song may be a precursor to "Dixie", as evidenced by its line "Away down south in de Kentuck brake"; in comparison, "Dixie" includes the line, "Away...
" (1843). The second stanza
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...
clearly echoes "Gumbo Chaff" from the 1830s: "Den Missus she did marry Big Bill de weaver / Soon she found out he was a gay deceiver". The final stanza rewords portions of Emmett's own "De Wild Goose-Nation": "De tarapin he thot it was time for to trabble / He screw aron his tail and begin to scratch grabble." Even the phrase "Dixie's land" had been used in Emmett's "Johnny Roach" and "I Ain't Got Time to Tarry", both first performed earlier in 1859.
As with other minstrel material, "Dixie" entered common circulation among blackface performers, and many of them added their own verses or altered the song in other ways. Emmett himself adopted the tune for a pseudo-African American spiritual
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
in the 1870s or 1880s. The chorus changed to:
- I wish I was in CanaanCanaanCanaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
- Oaber dar—Oaber dar,
- In Canaan's lann de color'd man
- Can lib an die in cloaber
- Oaber dar—Oaber dar,
- Oaber dar in de lann ob Canaan.
Both Union and Confederate composers produced war versions of the song during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. These variants standardized the spelling and made the song more militant, replacing the slave scenario with specific references to the conflict or to Northern or Southern pride. This Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
verse by Albert Pike
Albert Pike
Albert Pike was an attorney, Confederate officer, writer, and Freemason. Pike is the only Confederate military officer or figure to be honored with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C...
is representative:
- Southrons! hear your country call you!
- Up! lest worse than death befall you! . . .
- Hear the Northern thunders mutter! . . .
- Northern flags in South wind flutter; . . .
- Send them back your fierce defiance!
- Stamp upon the cursed alliance!
Compare Frances J. Crosby's Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
lyrics:
- On! ye patriots to the battle,
- Hear Fort Moultrie's cannon rattle!
- Then away, then away, then away to the fight!
- Go meet those Southern traitors,
- With iron will.
- And should your courage falter, boys,
- Remember Bunker Hill.
- Hurrah! Hurrah! The Stars and Stripes forever!
- Hurrah! Hurrah! Our Union shall not sever!
The Confederate States of America War Song Goes Like This:
Southern men the thunders mutter!
Northern flags in South winds flutter!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Send them back your fierce defiance!
Stamp upon the cursed alliance!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie! Hurrah! Hurrah!
In Dixie's land we take our stand, and live or die for Dixie!
To arms! To arms! And conquer peace for Dixie!
To arms! To arms! And conquer peace for Dixie
Fear no danger! Shun no labor!
Lift up rifle, pike, and saber!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Shoulder pressing close to shoulder,
Let the odds make each heart bolder!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Advance the flag of Dixie! Hurrah! Hurrah!
In Dixie's land we take our stand, and live or die for Dixie!
To arms! To arms! And conquer peace for Dixie!
To arms! To arms! And conquer peace for Dixie!
Swear upon your country's altar
Never to submit or falter--
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
Till the spoilers are defeated,
Till the Lord's work is completed!
To arms! To arms! To arms, in Dixie!
"The New Dixie!: The True 'Dixie' for Northern Singers" takes a different approach, turning the original song on its head:
- Den I'm glad I'm not in Dixie
- Hooray! Hooray!
- In Yankee land I'll took my stand,
- Nor lib no die in Dixie
Soldiers on both sides wrote endless parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
versions of the song. Often these discussed the banalities of camp life: "Pork and cabbage in the pot, / It goes in cold and comes out hot," or, "Vinegar put right on red beet, / It makes them always fit to eat". Others were more nonsensical: "Way down South in the fields of cotton, / Vinegar shoes and paper stockings".
Aside from its being rendered in standard English, the chorus was the only section not regularly altered, even for parodies. The first verse and chorus, in non-dialect form, are the best-known portions of the song today:
- I wish I was in the land of cotton, old times there are not forgotten,
- Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land.
- In Dixie Land where I was born in, early on a frosty mornin',
- Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land.
- Then I wish I was in Dixie, hooray! hooray!
- In Dixie Land I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie,
- Away, away, away down South in Dixie,
- Away, away, away down South in Dixie.
Composition and copyright
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
-born minstrel show composer Daniel Decatur Emmett wrote "Dixie" around 1859. Over his lifetime, Emmett often recounted the story of its composition, and details vary with each account. For example, in various versions of the story, Emmett claimed to have written "Dixie" in a few minutes, in a single night, and over a few days. An 1872 edition of The New York Clipper provides one of the earliest accounts, claiming that on a Saturday night shortly after Emmett had been taken on as songwriter for the Bryant's Minstrels, Jerry Bryant told him they would need a new walkaround by the following Monday. By this account, Emmett shut himself inside his New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
flat and wrote the song that Sunday evening.
Other details emerge in later accounts. In one, Emmett claimed that "Suddenly, . . . I jumped up and sat down at the table to work. In less than an hour I had the first verse and chorus. After that it was easy." In another version, Emmett stared out at the rainy evening and thought, "I wish I was in Dixie." Then, "Like a flash the thought suggested the first line of the walk-around, and a little later the minstrel, fiddle in hand, was working out the melody" (a different story has it that Emmett's wife uttered the famous line). Yet another variant, dated to 1903, further changes the details: "I was standing by the window, gazing out at the drizzly, raw day, and the old circus feeling came over me. I hummed the old refrain, 'I wish I was in Dixie,' and the inspiration struck me. I took my pen and in ten minutes had written the first verses with music. The remaining verses were easy." In his final years, Emmett even claimed to have written the song years before he had moved to New York. A Washington Post article supports this, giving a composition date of 1843.
Emmett published "Dixie" (under the title "I Wish I Was in Dixie's Land") on 21 June 1860 through Firth, Pond & Co.
Firth, Pond & Company
Firth, Pond & Company was an American music company that published sheet music and distributed musical instruments in the 19th century and early 20 century. The company began in 1847 when William Hall broke with partners John Firth and Sylvanus Pond, thus disbanding their New York-based publishing...
in New York. The original manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
has been lost; extant copies were made during Emmett's retirement, starting in the 1890s. Emmett's tardiness registering the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
for the song allowed it to proliferate among other minstrel groups and variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
performers. Rival editions and variations multiplied in songbooks, newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s and broadside
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
s. The earliest of these that is known today is a copyrighted edition for piano from the John Church Company
John Church Company
The John Church Company was a 19th-century American publishing company that specialized in sheet music. They had offices in Cincinnati, Ohio; New York, New York; and Chicago, Illinois. The company published the works of John Philip Sousa, Dan Emmett, and other composers.The company was bought out...
of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, published on 26 June 1860. Other publishers attributed completely made-up composers with the song: "Jerry Blossom" and "Dixie, Jr.", among others. The most serious of these challenges during Emmett's lifetime came from Southerner William Shakespeare Hays
William Shakespeare Hays
William Shakespeare Hays , was an American poet and lyricist. He wrote some 350 songs over his career and sold as many as 20 million copies of his works. These pieces varied in tone from low comedy to sentimental and pious; his material was sometimes confused with that of Stephen Foster as a result...
; this claimant attempted to prove his allegations through a Southern historical society, but he died before they could produce any conclusive evidence.. By 1908, four years after Emmett's death, no fewer than 37 people had claimed the song as theirs.
"Dixie" is the only song Emmett ever claimed to have written in a burst of inspiration, and analysis of Emmett's notes and writings shows "a meticulous copyist, [who] spent countless hours collecting and composing songs and sayings for the minstrel stage . . . ; little evidence was left for the improvisational moment." The New York Clipper wrote in 1872 that "[Emmett's] claim to authorship of 'Dixie' was and is still disputed, both in and out of the minstrel profession." Emmett himself said, "Show people generally, if not always, have the chance to hear every local song as they pass through the different sections of [the] country, and particularly so with minstrel companies, who are always on the look out for songs and sayings that will answer their business." He claimed at one point to have based the first part of "Dixie" on "Come Philander Let's Be Marchin, Every One for His True Love Searchin", which he described as a "song of his childhood days". Musical analysis does show some similarities in the melodic
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
outline, but the songs are not closely related. Emmett also credited "Dixie" to an old circus song. Despite the disputed authorship, Firth, Pond & Co. paid Emmett $300 for all rights to "Dixie" on 11 February 1861, perhaps fearing complications spurred by the impending Civil War.
The origin of the terms “Dixie” & “Dixieland”
Several theories exist regarding the origin of the term "Dixie". According to Robert LeRoy Ripley (founder and originator of “Ripley's Believe It or Not”), Dixie has nothing to do with the south. "Dixieland" was originally located on a farm in Long Island New York. This farm was owned by a man named John Dixie. He befriended so many slaves before the Civil War, that his place — "Dixie's Land" — became a sort of a paradise to them. Song writers later transplanted the term "Dixie" to the south.African American origin?
On at least one occasion, Emmett attributed "Dixie" to an unnamed Southern black man, and some of his contemporaries said that the song was based on an old African AmericanAfrican American music
African-American music is an umbrella term given to a range of musics and musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, who have long constituted a large and significant ethnic minority of the population of the United States...
folk tune. Taken at face value, these claims are hardly surprising, as minstrels often billed themselves as authentic delineators of slave material. Names of these chance-met black songwriters were rarely given.
Mount Vernon, Ohio
Mount Vernon is a city in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 16,990 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is named after Mount Vernon, the plantation owned by George Washington.-History:...
, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, tradition, which dates to the 1910s or 1920s at the latest, lends some credence to this notion. Many Mount Vernon residents claim that Emmett collaborated informally with a pair of black musicians named Ben and Lew Snowden. Those who remember the Snowden brothers describe them as "informal", "spontaneous", "creative", and "relatively free of concern over ownership" of their songs. The Snowden brothers were part of the Snowden Family Band
Snowden Family Band
The Snowden Family Band was an 19th century African American musical group. The children of the Snowden family of Clinton, Knox County, Ohio, comprised the ensemble. The band's career stretched from before the American Civil War into living memory; no other African American band of their type...
, which was well known for traveling about the region. That Emmett might have met and played with these local celebrities is hardly surprising. The story is well enough known that the grave marker for Ben and Lew Snowden, set in 1976 by the black American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
post, reads, "They taught 'Dixie' to Dan Emmett".
The Snowden theory has, however, one serious flaw. While Emmett likely did meet and play with Ben and Lew Snowden when he retired to Knox County
Knox County, Ohio
Knox County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. As of 2010, the population was 60,921. Its county seat is Mount Vernon and is named for Henry Knox, an officer in the American Revolutionary War who was later the first Secretary of War....
, the Snowden brothers would have been only small children at the time Emmett composed "Dixie". Howard L. Sacks and Judith Sacks suggest that the Ohio legend may in fact be off by a generation, and that Emmett could have collaborated instead with the Snowden parents, Thomas and Ellen. This idea dates to at least 1978, in a genealogical history of the Robert Greer family of Knox County.
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence
Circumstantial evidence is evidence in which an inference is required to connect it to a conclusion of fact, like a fingerprint at the scene of a crime...
suggests that this is possible. Emmett's grandparents owned the farm adjacent to the Snowden homestead, and Emmett's father was one of a few blacksmiths to whom Thomas Snowden could have brought his horses for shoeing. Furthermore, an unpublished biography of Emmett, written in 1935 by a friend of the Emmett family, Mary McClane, says that Emmett visited Mt. Vernon several times from 1835 until the 1860s and toured the surrounding area giving fiddle performances. Emmett certainly refers to Knox County in other songs, including "Seely Simpkins Jig
Seely Simpkins Jig
"Seely Simpkins Jig" is a song by American songwriter Dan Emmett. Emmett named the song for Seeley Simpkins, a resident of Knox County, Ohio, well known for his fiddle playing and whistling. Simpkins' property neighbored that of Thomas Snowden, a man whom Howard L. and Judith Sacks credit with...
", which refers to a fiddler there, and "Owl Creek Quickstep
Owl Creek Quickstep
"Owl Creek Quickstep" was a song written by American songwriter Dan Emmett. The title refers to one of the earliest settlements in Knox County, Ohio. It was commonly sung by blackface minstrels.-References:...
", which is named for an early settlement in the area.
Advocates of the Snowden theory believe that the lyrics of "Dixie" are a protest through irony
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
and parody against the institution of slavery. The references to "Cimmon seed an' sandy bottom" in one version of the song may refer to Nanjemoy
Nanjemoy, Maryland
Nanjemoy is a settlement along Maryland Route 6 in southwestern Charles County, Maryland, United States, and the surrounding large rural area more or less bounded by Nanjemoy Creek to the east and north, and the Potomac River to the south and west. It and the creek draw their names from a Native...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, Ellen Snowden's birthplace, and located in an area that was known for its persimmons and sandy, wet lowlands. Slaves rarely knew their exact birth date, instead recalling broad details that someone was born, for example, "Early on one frosty mornin'". A domestic slave, as Ellen Snowden had been, would have been well placed to witness a love affair between "Old Missus" and "Will-de-weaber". Food imagery, such as "buck-wheat cake" and "'Ingen' batter", further points to a writer who had some experience as a cook.
A 1950 article by Ada Bedell Wootton claims that Ben and Lew Snowden sometimes played with Dan Emmett during the minstrel's retirement. At his death in 1923, Lew Snowden owned a small box of newspaper clippings asserting Emmett's authorship of "Dixie". He also had a small framed photograph of Emmett, a fixture on the Snowden house's wall for years, with the text "Author of 'Dixie'!" written under the minstrel's name. Scholars such as Clint Johnson
Clint Johnson
Clint Johnson is an American author of nonfiction, primarily about the American Civil War. He is a graduate of the University of Florida....
, Robert James Branham, and Stephen J. Hartnett accept the claims of black origin for the song or at least allow for the possibility. Nevertheless, many scholars, such as E. Lawrence Abel, dismiss the Snowden claims outright.
Popularity through the Civil War
"Dixie" quickly gained wide recognition and status as a minstrel standard, and it helped rekindle interest in plantation material from other troupes, particularly in the third act. It became a favorite of Abraham Lincoln's
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
and was played during his campaign in 1860. The New York Clipper wrote that it was "one of the most popular compositions ever produced" and that it had "been sung, whistled, and played in every quarter of the globe." Buckley's Serenaders
Buckley's Serenaders
Buckley's Serenaders was an American blackface minstrel troupe, headed by James Buckley. They were an influential troupe in the United States; while they toured England from 1846 to 1848, their absence allowed Edwin Christy's troupe to gain popularity and influence the development of the minstrel...
performed the song in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in late 1860, and by the end of the decade, it had found its way into the repertoire of British sailors. As the American Civil War broke out, one New Yorker wrote,
"Dixie" has become an institution, an irrepressible institution in this section of the country . . . As a consequence, whenever "Dixie" is produced, the pen drops from the fingers of the plodding clerk, spectacles from the nose and the paper from the hands of the merchant, the needle from the nimble digits of the maid or matron, and all hands go hobbling, bobbling in time with the magical music of "Dixie."
The Rumsey and Newcomb Minstrels brought "Dixie" to New Orleans
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
in March 1860; the walkaround became the hit of their show. That April, Mrs. John Wood
Mrs. John Wood
Mrs. John Wood , born Matilda Charlotte Vining, was an English actress and theatre manager.-Biography:...
sang "Dixie" in a John Brougham
John Brougham
John Brougham was an Irish-American actor and dramatist.-Biography:He was born at Dublin. His father was an amateur painter, and died young. His mother was the daughter of a Huguenot, whom political adversity had forced into exile. John was the eldest of three children...
burlesque
Burlesque
Burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects...
called Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage
Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage
Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage is a two-act musical burlesque by John Brougham. It debuted in 1855 and became an instant hit...
, increasing the song's popularity in New Orleans. On the surface "Dixie" seems an unlikely candidate for a Southern hit; it has a Northern composer, stars a black protagonist, is intended as a dance song, and lacks any of the patriotic bluster of most national hymns and marches. Had it not been for the atmosphere of sectionalism
Sectionalism
-Defined:Sectionalism is loyalty to the interests of one's own region or section of the country, rather than to the country as a whole.-United States:...
in which "Dixie" debuted, it might have faded into obscurity. Nevertheless, the refrain "In Dixie Land I'll took my stand / To lib an die in Dixie", coupled with the first verse and its sanguine picture of the South, hit a chord. Woods's New Orleans audience demanded no fewer than seven encores.
Sheet music
Sheet music is a hand-written or printed form of music notation that uses modern musical symbols; like its analogs—books, pamphlets, etc.—the medium of sheet music typically is paper , although the access to musical notation in recent years includes also presentation on computer screens...
precedes that of Firth, Pond & Co.'s version, but Emmett later recalled that Werlein had sent him a letter offering to buy the rights for $5. In a New York musical publishers' convention, Firth, Pond & Co. succeeded in convincing those present that Emmett was the composer. In future editions of Werlein's arrangement, Viereck is merely credited as "arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
". Whether ironically or sincerely, Emmett dedicated a sequel called "I'm Going Home to Dixie
I'm Going Home to Dixie
"I'm Going Home to Dixie" is an American walkaround, a type of dance song. It was written by Dan Emmett in 1861 as a sequel to the immensely popular walkaround "Dixie". The sheet music was first published that same year by Firth, Pond & Company in an arrangement by C. S. Grafully...
" to Werlein in 1861.
"Dixie" quickly spread to the rest of the South, enjoying vast popularity. By the end of 1860, secessionists had adopted it as theirs; on 20 December the band played "Dixie" after each vote for secession at St. Andrew's Hall
St. Andrew's Hall
St. Andrew's Hall, was a public building in Charleston, South Carolina, on Broad Street. The hall served as headquarters for the St. Andrew's Society of Charleston, South Carolina. It was also an important part of the social life of upper-class Charlestonians. It was used for balls, banquets,...
in Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. On 18 February 1861, the song took on something of the air of national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
when it was played at the inauguration of Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
, arranged as a quickstep
Quickstep
The quickstep is a light-hearted member of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal and informal events...
by Hermann Arnold, and possibly for the first time as a band arrangement. Emmett himself reportedly told a fellow minstrel that year that "If I had known to what use they were going to put my song, I will be damned if I'd have written it."
In May 1861 Confederate Henry Hotze
Henry Hotze
Henry Hotze was a Swiss-born propagandist for the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...
wrote:
It is marvellous with what wild-fire rapidity this tune "Dixie" has spread over the whole South. Considered as an intolerable nuisance when first the streets re-echoed it from the repertoire of wandering minstrels, it now bids fair to become the musical symbol of a new nationality, and we shall be fortunate if it does not impose its very name on our country.
Southerners who shunned the song's low origins and comedic nature changed the lyrics, usually to focus on Southern pride and the war. Albert Pike's enjoyed the most popularity; the Natchez (Mississippi) Courier published it on 30 May 1861 as "The War Song of Dixie", followed by Werlein, who again credited Viereck for composition. Henry Throop Stanton
Henry Throop Stanton
Henry Throop Stanton was an American poet, best known for his poem "The Moneyless Man".He was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and educated in Maysville, Kentucky. He attended West Point for a time, but eventually quit the school. He later made a living as an editor and later as a lawyer...
published another war-themed "Dixie", which he dedicated to "the Boys in Virginia". The defiant "In Dixie Land I'll take my stand / To live and die in Dixie" were the only lines used with any consistency. The tempo also quickened, as the song was a useful quickstep tune. Confederate soldiers by and large preferred these war versions to the original minstrel lyrics. "Dixie" was probably the most popular song for Confederate soldiers on the march, in battle, and at camp.
Southerners who rallied to the song proved reluctant to acknowledge a Yankee
Yankee
The term Yankee has several interrelated and often pejorative meanings, usually referring to people originating in the northeastern United States, or still more narrowly New England, where application of the term is largely restricted to descendants of the English settlers of the region.The...
as its composer. Accordingly, some ascribed it a longer tradition as a folk song. Poet John Hill Hewitt
John Hill Hewitt
John Hill Hewitt was an American songwriter, playwright, and poet. He is best known for his songs about the American South, including "A Minstrel's Return from the War", "The Soldier's Farewell", "The Stonewall Quickstep", and "Somebody's Darling"...
wrote in 1862 that "The homely air of 'Dixie', of extremely doubtful origin . . . [is] generally believed to have sprung from a noble stock of Southern stevedore
Stevedore
Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....
melodies."
Meanwhile, many Northerners took offense to the South's appropriation of "Dixie". Before even the fall of Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a Third System masonry coastal fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The fort is best known as the site upon which the shots initiating the American Civil War were fired, at the Battle of Fort Sumter.- Construction :...
, Frances J. Crosby published "Dixie for the Union" and "Dixie Unionized". The tune formed part of the repertoire of both Union band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
s and common troops until 1863. Broadsides circulated with titles like "The Union 'Dixie'" or "The New Dixie, the True 'Dixie' for Northern Singers". Northern "Dixies" branded Southerners as traitors and resorted to pure insults. Emmett himself arranged "Dixie" for the military in a book of fife
Fife (musical instrument)
A fife is a small, high-pitched, transverse flute that is similar to the piccolo, but louder and shriller due to its narrower bore. The fife originated in medieval Europe and is often used in military and marching bands. Someone who plays the fife is called a fifer...
instruction in 1862, and a 1904 work by Charles Burleigh Galbreath claims that Emmett gave his official sanction to Crosby's Union lyrics. At least 39 versions of the song, both vocal and instrumental, were published between 1860 and 1866.
Northerners, Emmett among them, also declared that the "Dixie Land" of the song was actually in the North. One common story, still cited today, claimed that Dixie was a Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
slave owner who had sent his slaves south just before New York's 1827 banning of slavery. The stories had little effect; for most Americans "Dixie" was synonymous with the South.
On 10 April 1865, one day after the surrender of General Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
, Lincoln addressed a White House crowd:
I propose now closing up by requesting you play a certain piece of music or a tune. I thought "Dixie" one of the best tunes I ever heard . . . I had heard that our adversaries over the way had attempted to appropriate it. I insisted yesterday that we had fairly captured it . . . I presented the question to the Attorney-General, and he gave his opinion that it is our lawful prize . . . I ask the Band to give us a good turn upon it.
By that and other actions, Lincoln demonstrated his willingness to be concilliatory to the South and to restore the Union as soon as practicable.
"Dixie" reconstructed
In this era of peace between the sections . . . thousands of people from every portion of the United States will be only too glad to unite with the ex-confederates in the proposed demonstration, and already some of the leading men who fought on the Union side are enthusiastically in favor of carrying out the programme. Dixie is as lively and popular an air today as it ever was, and its reputation is not confined to the American continent . . . [W]herever it is played by a big, strong band the auditors cannot help keeping time to the music.
However, "Dixie" was still most strongly associated with the South. Northern singers and writers often used it for parody or as a quotation
Quotation
A quotation or quote is the repetition of one expression as part of another one, particularly when the quoted expression is well-known or explicitly attributed by citation to its original source, and it is indicated by quotation marks.A quotation can also refer to the repeated use of units of any...
in other pieces to establish a person or setting as Southern. For example, African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s Eubie Blake
Eubie Blake
James Hubert Blake was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans...
and Noble Sissle
Noble Sissle
Noble Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright.-Early life:...
quoted "Dixie" in the song "Banana Days" for their 1921 musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Shuffle Along
Shuffle Along
Shuffle Along is the first major successful African American musical. Written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, the musical premiered on Broadway in 1921.-Plot:...
. In 1905 the United Daughters of the Confederacy
United Daughters of the Confederacy
The United Daughters of the Confederacy is a women's heritage association dedicated to honoring the memory of those who served in the military and died in service to the Confederate States of America . UDC began as the National Association of the Daughters of the Confederacy, organized in 1894 by...
mounted a campaign to acknowledge an official Southern version of the song (one that would purge it forever of its African American associations). Although they obtained the support of the United Confederate Veterans
United Confederate Veterans
The United Confederate Veterans, also known as the UCV, was a veteran's organization for former Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War, and was equivalent to the Grand Army of the Republic which was the organization for Union veterans....
and the United Sons of Confederate Veterans, Emmett's death the year before turned sentiments against the project, and the groups were ultimately unsuccessful in having any of the 22 entries universally adopted.
As African Americans entered minstrelsy, they exploited the song's popularity in the South by playing "Dixie" as they first arrived in a Southern town. According to Tom Fletcher, a black minstrel of the time, it tended to please those who might otherwise be antagonistic to the arrival of a group of black men.
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
, c. 1908, said that "though 'Dixie' came to be looked upon as characteristically a song of the South, the hearts of the Northern people never grew cold to it. President Lincoln loved it, and to-day it is the most popular song in the country, irrespective of section." As late as 1934, the music journal The Etude asserted that "the sectional sentiment attached to Dixie has been long forgotten; and today it is heard everywhere—North, East, South, West."
"Dixie" had become Emmett's most enduring legacy. In the 1900 census of Knox County, Emmett's occupation is given as "author of Dixie". The band at Emmett's funeral played "Dixie" as he was lowered into his grave. His grave marker, placed 20 years after his death, reads,
Whistling "Dixie"
The song even added a new term to the American lexicon: "Whistling 'Dixie'" is a slangSlang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
expression meaning "[engaging] in unrealistically rosy fantasizing". For example, "Don't just sit there whistling 'Dixie'!" is a reprimand against inaction, and "You ain't just whistling 'Dixie'!" indicates that the addressee is serious about the matter at hand.
However, it is likely that the phrase "Whistling Dixie" made its way into the American lexicon with the assistance of a far more ancient legal term: Ipse Dixit
Ipse dixit
Ipse dixit is a Latin phrase meaning he himself said it. The term labels a dogmatic statement asserted but not proved, to be accepted on faith in the speaker....
. "Ipse Dixit", which refers to "a statement spoken, but not proved", is distinctly similar in pronunciation to "Whistlin' Dixie", and has nearly identical usage. Indeed, the substitution of the latter for the former would have been an excellent way of putting legal jargon into layman's terms.
Modern interpretations
Beginning in the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans have frequently challenged "Dixie" as a racistRacism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
relic of the Confederacy and a reminder of decades of white domination and segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
. These feelings were amplified when white opponents to civil rights began answering songs such as "We Shall Overcome
We Shall Overcome
"We Shall Overcome" is a protest song that became a key anthem of the African-American Civil Rights Movement . The title and structure of the song are derived from an early gospel song by African-American composer Charles Albert Tindley...
" with the unofficial Confederate anthem.
The earliest of these protests came from students of Southern universities, where "Dixie" was a staple of a number of marching bands. In 1967 black cadets at The Citadel
The Citadel (military college)
The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, also known simply as The Citadel, is a state-supported, comprehensive college located in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. It is one of the six senior military colleges in the United States...
refused to stand for "Dixie" or to sing and perform it at football games. Similar protests have since occurred at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
, the Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia Institute of Technology
The Georgia Institute of Technology is a public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States...
, and Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
. In 1968, the President of the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
banned the song from its band's performances. In 2002, the University of Mississippi's vice chancellors attempted to compromise by adding more general American pieces to the band's playlist and by restricting the playing of "Dixie" to twice per game. Following the 2009 football season, however, the song was officially removed from the band's performances.
The debate has since moved beyond student populations. Members of the 75th United States Army Band
United States Army Band
Founded in 1922, the United States Army Band – known as "Pershing's Own" – is the premier musical organization of the United States Army. Before 2002, the United States Army Band was the only Washington-based military band to have participated in a theater of foreign combat operations...
protested "Dixie" in 1971. In 1989 three black Georgia senators walked out when the Miss Georgia Sweet Potato Queen sang "Dixie" in the Georgia chamber. Meanwhile, many black musicologists have challenged the song's racist origins. For example, Sam Dennison writes that "Today, the performance of 'Dixie' still conjures visions of an unrepentant, militarily recalcitrant South, ready to reassert its aged theories of white supremacy at any moment . . . This is why the playing of 'Dixie' still causes hostile reactions."
On the other hand, for many Southerners, "Dixie", like the Confederate flag, is a symbol of Southern heritage and identity. Southern schools maintain the "Dixie" fight song
Fight song
A fight song is primarily an American and Canadian sports term, referring to a song associated with a team. In both professional and amateur sports, fight songs are a popular way for fans to cheer for their team...
, often coupled with the Rebel mascot and the Confederate battle flag school symbol, despite protests. Confederate heritage websites regularly feature the song, and Confederate heritage groups routinely sing "Dixie" at their gatherings. In his song "Dixie on My Mind
Dixie on My Mind
"Dixie on My Mind" is a 1981 single written and recorded by Hank Williams Jr.. "Dixie on My Mind" would be Hank Williams Jr.'s fourth number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent nine weeks on the country chart...
", country musician Hank Williams, Jr.
Hank Williams, Jr.
Randall Hank Williams , better known as Hank Williams, Jr. and Bocephus, is an American country singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and traditional country...
, cites the absence of "Dixie" on Northern radio stations as an example of how Northern culture pales in comparison to its Southern counterpart. Others consider the song a part of the patriotic American repertoire on a par with "America the Beautiful
America the Beautiful
"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates and the music composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward....
" and "Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle
"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the origin of which dates back to the Seven Years' War. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut...
". For example, Chief Justice William Rehnquist
William Rehnquist
William Hubbs Rehnquist was an American lawyer, jurist, and political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States...
regularly included "Dixie" in his annual sing-along
Sing-along
Sing-along, community singing, group singing, is an event of singing together at gatherings or parties, less formally than choir singing. One can use a songbook. Common genres are folk songs, patriotic songs, hymns and drinking songs...
for the 4th Circuit Judicial Conference in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
. However, its performance prompted some African American lawyers to avoid the event.
Campaigns against "Dixie" and other Confederate symbols have helped create a sense of political ostracism and marginalization among working-class white Southerners. Confederate heritage groups and literature proliferated in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to criticism of the song. Journalist Clint Johnson calls modern opposition to "Dixie" "an open, not-at-all-secret conspiracy" and an example of political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
. Johnson claims that modern versions of the song are not racist and simply reinforce that the South "extols family and tradition." Other supporters, such as State Senator Glenn McConnell of South Carolina, have called the attempts to suppress the song cultural genocide
Cultural genocide
Cultural genocide is a term that lawyer Raphael Lemkin proposed in 1933 as a component to genocide. The term was considered in the 1948 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples juxtaposed next to the term ethnocide, but it was removed in the final document, replaced with...
.
Performers who choose to sing "Dixie" today usually remove the black dialect and combine the song with other pieces. For example, Rene Marie's
Rene marie
René Marie is a songwriter and jazz vocalist. She began her professional music career at age 42. In 1999, she performed at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. and signed a contract with the St. Louis-based MAXJAZZ label...
jazz version mixes "Dixie" with "Strange Fruit
Strange Fruit
"Strange Fruit" is a song performed most famously by Billie Holiday, who released her first recording of it in 1939, the year she first sang it. Written by the teacher Abel Meeropol as a poem, it exposed American racism, particularly the lynching of African Americans. Such lynchings had occurred...
", a Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
song about a lynching
Lynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
. Mickey Newbury's
Mickey Newbury
Mickey Newbury was an American songwriter, a critically acclaimed recording artist, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
"An American Trilogy
An American Trilogy
"An American Trilogy" is a song arranged by country songwriter Mickey Newbury and made popular by Elvis Presley, who began including the song as part of his regular concert routine in the 1970s, thereby making the song a showstopper...
" (often performed by Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
) combines "Dixie" with the Union's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the negro spiritual "All My Trials
All My Trials
All My Trials was a folk song during the social protest movements of the 1950s and 1960s. It is based on a Bahamian lullaby that tells the story of a mother on her death bed, comforting her children, "Hush little baby, don't you cry./You know your mama's bound to die," because, as she explains,...
".
However, in modern times "Dixie" is usually heard as an instrumental piece. Thus, to countless people "Dixie" signifies nothing more than "Southern United States". This interpretation has been reinforced through years of American popular culture. For example, the soundtracks of cartoons featuring Southern characters like Foghorn Leghorn often play "Dixie" to quickly set the scene. On the television series The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard...
, which takes place in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, the car horn of the General Lee plays part of the melody from the song. Sacks and Sacks argue that such apparently innocent associations only further serve to tie "Dixie" to its blackface origins, as these comedic programs are, like the minstrel show, "inelegant, parodic [and] dialect-ridden". On the other hand, Poole sees the "Dixie" car horn, mimicked by white Southerners, as another example of the song's role as a symbol of "working-class revolt". However, in more serious fare, "Dixie" signals "Southern". For example, Max Steiner
Max Steiner
Max Steiner was an Austrian composer of music for theatre productions and films. He later became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Trained by the great classical music composers Brahms and Mahler, he was one of the first composers who primarily wrote music for motion pictures, and as...
quotes the song in the opening scene of his late 1930s score to Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
as a down-beat nostalgic instrumental to set the scene and Ken Burns
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren "Ken" Burns is an American director and producer of documentary films, known for his style of using archival footage and photographs...
makes use of instrumental versions in his 1990 Civil War
The Civil War (documentary)
The Civil War is a documentary film created by Ken Burns about the American Civil War. It was first broadcast on PBS on five consecutive nights from Sunday, September 23 to Thursday, September 27, 1990. Forty million viewers watched it during its initial broadcast, making it the most-watched...
documentary.
In a widely publicized and controversial incident, Senator Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
deeply offended Carol Moseley Braun
Carol Moseley Braun
Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun is an American feminist politician and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999. She was the first and to date only African-American woman elected to the United States Senate, the first woman to defeat an incumbent senator in an...
, the first black woman in the Senate and the only black Senator at the time. Soon after the 1993 Senate vote on the Confederate flag insignia, which opponents saw as an overt symbol of racism—both for the history of racial slavery in the United States and for establishment of Jim Crow laws
Jim Crow laws
The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities, with a supposedly "separate but equal" status for black Americans...
—Helms ran into Moseley Braun in an elevator. Helms turned to his friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), and said, "Watch me make her cry. I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing 'Dixie' until she cries." He then proceeded to sing the song about "the good life" during slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
to Moseley Braun.
External links
- Example version of "Dixie's Land" (MIDI)
- Sheet music for "Dixie's Land" from Historic American Sheet Music at Duke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
. - Lincoln and Liberty