"Swanee River"

No personal notes.

"Old Folks at Home", known also 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 later regretted. It has been the official state song of Florida since 1935.

According to legend, Foster had 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 "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 wrote it immediately in (misspelling it "Swanee" to fit the melody), saying "That's it exactly!". Foster himself never saw the Suwannee or even visited Florida, but the popularity of the song initiated tourism to Florida to see the river.

Although this song may sometimes be performed with "modern" lyrics that some claim to be more sensitive racially, the song's original lyrics, included here, had been adopted officially as the lyrics of Florida's state song. In 2008, the Florida Legislature adopted a version of the lyrics that has been revised by the Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh.

    1st verse
    Way down upon de Swanee ribber (river)
    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?