Here are links to a number of famous American songs expressing longing for home. Notice anything they have in common?
Stephen Foster was the first great American songwriter, and among his many contributions to American culture are "Old Folks at Home (Suwanee River)" and "My Old Kentucky Home." Here is Deanna Durbin's polished rendition of Suwannee River, and former Kentucky Governor and Baseball Commissioner "Happy" Chandler's amazing performance of "My Old Kentucky Home."
Modern "home sweet home" songs include the magnificent works "Country Roads" by John Denver and "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd.
The all-time most popular American "home sweet home" song has to be "Dixie." Here is a version of the lyrics that is familiar to all Americans:
O, 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 one frosty mornin'
Look away! Look away!
Look away! Dixie Land.
Chorus:
O, 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!
The origins of the song are described here in an NPR story from 2002. An archived article from the New York Times reported that on April 14, 1865, after General Robert E. Lee had surrendered and it was clear that United States had won the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, who had been born in Kentucky and who spoke with the accent of that border state, leaned out over the balcony of the White House and said,
Now let the band play "Dixie." It belongs neither to the South, nor to the North, but to us all."
The Times reported that this was "the first time in four years that the air was heard in the Nation's capitol." That was the last full day of Lincoln's life.
The obvious connection between each of these "home sweet home" songs is that they all hark back to the South. That cannot be a coincidence – there must be a relation between the common theme of these popular songs and the cultural distinctiveness of the South – and perhaps even to the social and political values of that region. This discussion continues in the sixth installment of "America the Beautiful" on Monday.
Professor Huhn is taking a two-week break from formal constitutional analysis with this ten-part series "America the Beautiful" describing songs, poems, and other works of art expressing our country's ideals. Please add your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section below.
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It's not a coincidence really, they are just the songs you selected. "New York, New York," "Home on the Range," or songs by NEO's very own Michael Stanley Band quickly come to mind but there are countless Home Sweet Home songs about the West and large cities like Detroit and Chicago. Aerosmith, from Boston, even has a song titled, "Home Sweet Home."
Deanna Durbin's rendition of "The Old Folks At Home" from her movie called NICE GIRL is just brilliant. DEANNA DURBIN DEVOTEES.
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