Florida's State Song Needs Replacement. . . Now

This article started as a plea for the replacement of the Star Spangled Banner as the United States national anthem, on the grounds that the lyrics are incomprehensible to most Americans, if, indeed, most people here even know them, unnecessarily bellicose and that the music is impossible for all but the best trained vocalists to sing. As in many of the times one gets involved with background research, it is far too easy to become distracted.

A recent article in the local newspapers announced that Florida's new Governor, Charlie Crist, had chosen a different song to mark his official introduction into office this month. A spokesman for the Governor said he was concerned "about the song's racial implications".

Florida's official state song, "Old Folks at Home" and also known by its first line, "Way Down Upon the Swanee River" was formally adopted by the Florida legislature on May 25, 1935. The lyrics, as originally written and as adopted by Florida, are not easily found on any official web site of the state:

Way down upon de Swanee ribber,

Far, far away,

Dere's wha my heart is turning ebber,

Dere's wha de old folks stay.

All up and down de whole creation

Sadly I roam,

Still longing for de old plantation

And for de old folks at home.

All de world am sad and dreary,

Ebry where I roam,

Oh! darkeys how my heart grows weary,

Far from de old folks at home.

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.

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?