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28-469: Swanee River may refer to: Old Folks at Home , an 1851 song often known unofficially as "Swanee River", written by Stephen Foster Swanee River (1931 film) , an American film Swanee River (1939 film) , a film biography of Stephen Foster Swanee River (band) See also [ edit ] Suwannee River , the actual river in Florida which inspired

56-580: A black Floridian jazz musician, Charles Atkins. Crist then encouraged state Senator Tony Hill , who was the leader of the legislature's Black Caucus, to find a new song. Hill joined forces with state Representative Ed Homan and the Florida Music Education Association to sponsor a contest for a new state song. On January 11, 2008, the song " Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky) "

84-541: A version with soprano Alma Gluck and violinist Efrem Zimbalist Sr. Jean Arthur and Gary Cooper sing a duet of Old Folks at Home combined with Humoresque No. 7 in the 1936 film, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town . Written in the first person from the perspective and in the dialect of an African slave (at a time when slavery was legal in 15 of the states of the US ), the song's narrator states "longing for de old plantation ", which has been criticized as romanticizing slavery. On

112-421: A young black woman gave a moving, nondialect rendition of "Old Folks at Home", except "still longing for the old plantation" came out "still longing for my old connection". Perhaps someone confused Stephen Foster's lyrics with a cell phone commercial. In his 2007 inauguration ceremony, Charlie Crist decided not to include the state song, but rather to use in its place, "The Florida Song", a composition written by

140-493: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Old Folks at Home "Old Folks at Home" was commissioned in 1851 by E. P. Christy for use by Christy's Minstrels , his minstrel troupe. Christy also asked to be credited as the song's creator, and was so credited on early sheet music printings. As a result, while the song was a success, Foster did not directly profit much from it, though he continued to receive royalties for

168-556: The B side of their 1963 single " Sukiyaki ". Another swing version was recorded by Hugh Laurie (2011). Tony Sheridan recorded it in 1962 on the Polydor label as a Rock 'n' roll song with his backing band The Beat Brothers issued on his album " My Bonnie ". Another version was also done for him that same year by the Beatles but this recording was lost. Larry Groce sang the song on Disney Children's Favorite Songs 2 in 1979, omitting

196-474: The Suwannee River, Far, far away, There's where my heart is turning ever, There's where the old folks stay. All up and down the whole creation, Sadly I roam, Still longing for my childhood station, And for the old folks at home. Chorus All the world is sad and dreary Everywhere I roam. O dear ones, how my heart grows weary, Far from the old folks at home. 2nd verse All ‘round

224-551: The Suwannee, or even visited Florida, but nevertheless Florida made "Old Folks At Home" its state song in 1935, replacing " Florida, My Florida ". Despite the song's popularity during the era, few people outside of Florida actually knew where the Suwannee River was, or that it was even a real place. Antonín Dvořák 's Humoresque No. 7 , written in the 1890s, is musically similar and is sometimes played along with "Old Folks at Home". The Library of Congress 's National Jukebox presents

252-443: The collected material and to compose a new cycle of short piano pieces. On 19 July 1894, Dvořák sketched the first Humoresque in B major, today number 6 in the cycle. However, the composer soon started to create scores for the pieces that were intended to be published. The score was completed on 27 August 1894. The cycle was entitled Humoresques shortly before Dvořák sent the score to his German publisher F. Simrock . The composition

280-454: The comb? When shall I hear the banjo strumming, Down in my good old home. Joel Whitburn identifies early successful recordings by Len Spencer (1892), Vess Ossman (1900), Haydn Quartet (1904), Louise Homer (1905), Alma Gluck (1915), Taylor Trio (1916) and by Oscar Seagle and Columbia Stellar Quartet (1919). The song enjoyed a revival in the 1930s with versions by Jimmie Lunceford and by Bunny Berigan . Bing Crosby sang

308-478: The first to combine the humorous lyrics with Dvořák's music. Ed Cray wrote, "Sometime in the early 1930s, according to his autobiography, Go East, Young Man , William O. Douglas and fellow Yale law school professor Thurman Arnold were riding the New Haven Railroad and were inspired by a sign in the toilet. 'Thurman and I got the idea of putting these memorable words to music, and Thurman quickly came up with

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336-410: The little farm I wander’d, When I was young; Then many happy days I squander’d, Many the songs I sung. When I was playing with my brother, Happy was I. Oh, take me to my kind old mother, There let me live and die. 3rd Verse One little hut among the bushes, One that I love. Still sadly to my memory rushes, No matter where I rove. When will I see the bees a humming, All ‘round

364-480: The lyrics but they were sung to the tune of Dvorak's Humoresque." This dating is consistent with the song's mention in a 1941 novel. A 2008 memoir of 1930s life on a Carolina plantation describes a railroad trip in a Pullman car and notes: "A sign over the toilet contained a memorable warning, and all of us children sang its words to the melody of Dvorak's Humoresque." Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas claimed that he and Yale law professor Thurman Arnold were

392-725: The other hand, a longing for the "old folks at home" has sometimes been interpreted, for example, by W. E. B. Du Bois in The Souls of Black Folk (1903), as a longing for the people and traditions of Africa, where most of the human beings enslaved in the New World had been free before they were kidnapped and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean in the Atlantic slave trade . The word, " darkies ", used in Foster's lyrics, has been amended; for example, "brothers"

420-557: The reworded version of the state song by statute , rather than by resolution like the 1935 decision. 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. Chorus 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! 2nd verse All round de little farm I wandered When I

448-527: The second verse. Humoresques (Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k) Humoresques (Czech: Humoresky ), Op. 101 ( B . 187), is a piano cycle by the Czech composer Antonín Dvořák , written during the summer of 1894. Music critic David Hurwitz says "the seventh Humoresque is probably the most famous small piano work ever written after Beethoven's Für Elise ." During his stay in the United States, when Dvořák

476-483: The song Swanee (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Swanee River . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swanee_River&oldid=1090679910 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

504-469: The song in the 1935 movie Mississippi and also recorded the song commercially the same year. Ray Charles used it as an inspiration for his 1957 remake of the song on the Atlantic label, entitled: "Swanee River Rock (Talkin' 'Bout That River)". Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen recorded a swing version of the song (using only the first verse and chorus twice over and substituting "Lordy" for "darkies") in 1962 for Pye Records . The recording appeared on

532-486: The song's performances at the 1955 Florida Folk Festival . As the official state song of Florida, "Old Folks at Home" has traditionally been sung as part of a Florida governor's inauguration ceremony. However, over time, the lyrics were progressively altered to be less offensive; as Diane Roberts observed: Florida got enlightened in 1978; we substituted "brothers" for "darkies". There were subsequent revisions. At Jeb Bush 's second inauguration as governor in 2003,

560-630: The song. Foster had composed most of the lyrics but was struggling to name the river of the opening line, and asked his brother, Morrison, to suggest one. Morrison wrote, “One day in 1851, Stephen came into my office, on the bank of the Monongahela, Pittsburgh, and said to me, ‘What is a good name of two syllables for a Southern river? I want to use it in this new song of Old Folks at Home .’ I asked him how Yazoo would do. ‘Oh,’ said he, ‘that has been used before.’ I then suggested Pedee. ‘Oh, pshaw,’ he replied ‘I won’t have that.’ I then took down an atlas from

588-467: The status of a "traditional" folk song, often entitled simply "Humoresque". As with all folk art, there are many variations and innumerable verses, often describing troublesome bathroom predicaments and unlikely solutions. A 1989 letter published in the Orlando Sentinel refers to it: "The story of Amtrak waste disposal brings to mind an amusing song of 40 to 50 years ago. I have no idea who wrote

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616-513: The top of my desk and opened the map of the United States. We both looked over it and my finger stopped at the ‘Swanee,’ a little river in Florida emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. ‘That’s it, that’s it exactly,’ exclaimed he delighted, as he wrote the name down; and the song was finished, commencing, ‘Way Down Upon de Swanee Ribber.’ He left the office, as was his custom, abruptly, without saying another word, and I resumed my work.” Foster himself never saw

644-469: The unrealized opera Hiawatha . The "American" style is also apparent in other themes of the Humoresques . In the United States, Dvořák's Humoresque No. 7 became the setting for a series of mildly scatological humorous verses, regarding passenger train toilets , beginning: "Passengers will please refrain from flushing toilets while the train is standing ..." The tune together with these words has achieved

672-785: Was director of the Conservatory in New York from 1892 to 1895, the composer collected many interesting musical themes in his sketchbooks. He used some of these ideas in other compositions, notably the "New World" Symphony , the "American" String Quartet , the Quintet in E ♭ major, and the Sonatina for Violin , but some remained unused. In 1894, Dvořák spent the summer with his family in Vysoká u Příbrami in Bohemia . During this "vacation", Dvořák began to use

700-458: Was published by Simrock in the autumn of 1894. The cycle consists of eight pieces: The main theme of the first Humoresque was sketched in New York City on New Year's Eve 1892, with the inscription Marche funèbre . The minor theme was accompanied with the inscription "people singing in the street". The opening theme of the fourth piece was also sketched in New York, among ideas intended for

728-494: Was selected as the winner. The Florida Legislature considered the issue and ultimately adopted it as the state anthem while retaining "Old Folks at Home" as the state song, replacing its original lyrics with a revised version approved by scholars at the Stephen Foster Memorial . Governor Crist stated that he was not pleased by the "two songs" decision; but he signed the bill, creating a new state anthem and establishing

756-411: Was sung in place of "darkies" at the dedication of the new Florida state capitol building in 1978. In general, at public performances another word like "lordy", "mama", "darling", "brothers", "children", or "dear ones" is typically substituted. In practice, the pronunciation, as written in dialect, has long been disregarded in favor of the corresponding standard American English usage, as demonstrated by

784-454: 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. 3rd Verse One little hut among de bushes, One dat I love Still sadly to my memory rushes, No matter where I rove. When will I see de bees a-humming All round de comb? When will I hear de banjo strumming, Down in my good old home? Way down upon

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