What are your feelings about the song "Dixie?"

[Orrex]

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!

I'm asking for a reason that I will reveal later today.

[trumad]

1. Crappy Katy Perry song.

[edhopper]

2. Antebellum fantasy

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. The Song has a wide and varied, interesting history

"Dixie", also known as "I Wish I Was in Dixie", "Dixie's Land", and other titles, is a popular American song. It is one of the most distinctively American musical products of the 19th century,[1] and probably the best-known song to have come out of blackface minstrelsy.[2] Although not a folk song at its creation, "Dixie" has since entered the American folk vernacular. The song likely cemented the word "Dixie" in the American vocabulary as a toponym for the Southern United States.

Although most sources credit Ohio-born Daniel Decatur Emmett with the song's composition, other people have claimed to have composed "Dixie", even during Emmett's lifetime. Compounding the problem of definitively establishing the song's authorship are Emmett's own confused accounts of its writing, and his tardiness in registering the song's copyright. The latest challenge has come on behalf of the Snowden Family of Knox County, Ohio, who may have collaborated with Emmett to write "Dixie".

The song originated in the blackface minstrel shows of the 1850s and quickly became popular across the United States. Its lyrics, written in a comic, exaggerated version of African American Vernacular English, tell the story of a freed black slave pining for the plantation of his birth. During the American Civil War, "Dixie" was adopted as a de facto anthem of the Confederacy. New versions appeared at this time that more explicitly tied the song to the events of the Civil War. Since the advent of the North American Civil Rights Movement, many have identified the lyrics of the song with the iconography and ideology of the Old South. Today, "Dixie" is sometimes considered offensive, and its critics link the act of singing it to sympathy for slavery or racial separation in the American South. Its supporters, on the other hand, view it as a legitimate aspect of Southern culture and heritage and the campaigns against it as political correctness. The song was a favorite of President Abraham Lincoln: he had it played at some of his political rallies and at the announcement of General Robert E. Lee's surrender.

Oh, 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!

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!

There's buckwheat cakes and Injun batter,
Makes you fat or a little fatter.
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land

Then hoe it down and scratch your gravel,
To Dixie's Land I'm bound to travel.
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land

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!

more at link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_%28song%29

[Orrex]

6. Well....

I was kind of hoping for DUers' thoughts, rather than Wiki's.

However, here's a bit from further down in the article, under "modern interpretations:"

Beginning in the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s, African Americans have frequently challenged "Dixie" as a racist 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.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. Please do take note that an Ohioan claims to have wrote the song.

because the song has that connotation linked to its wide and varied history and because it

has been overplayed and over done and because DUers love to bash the south I am sure it will get properly skewered on here.

As a southerner who has both slaves and slave owners in my heritage what would you have me do, Orrex?

Which blood would you have me deny?

As a southerner, can I not love the song while also hating the way it has been misused/abused politically over the years?

I will be trashing this thread.

[Orrex]

24. Seriously? That's unusually thin-skinned of you.

As a southerner, can I not love the song while also hating the way it has been misused/abused politically over the years?

A reasonable question, and of course the same reasonable question is frequently asked of the Confederate flag, too.

I imagine that you can have a love/hate interaction with the song, because a mature listener can reasonably distinguish a song from its historical associations while still appreciating it as a piece of art. The same is true, incidentally, of films, so the question can equally be asked of DUers currently frothing about American Sniper's Oscar nod. Perhaps I should check in on one of those dozen threads.

As a southerner who has both slaves and slave owners in my heritage what would you have me do, Orrex?

Which blood would you have me deny?

Deny? Neither. But celebrate? Honestly, I'd be inclined to side with the victims rather than the oppressors.

One wonders, though, at what point a piece of art becomes irrevocably entangled with the propaganda surrounding it. The "Antebellum Pride" element has been well-entrenched for decades, certainly for longer than I've been alive. Should we ignore that fact in favor of a fonder memory? Which reality would you have us deny?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

25. Later has arrived. Why did you post this thread?

[Orrex]

26. Because I heard "Dixie" as hold music while calling a company today

I have frequent contact with this company, and typically their hold music is more along the lines of 90's soft rock muzak.

But today, presumably to honor the late Dr. King, they decided to play "Dixie" instead.

Since we've established that context is essential to interpreting the piece, and since this is a company in Pennsylvania that ordinarily plays wholly non-political pop songs, I was struck by the sudden injection of this blackface minstrel ditty into their music loop, on this of all days.


Therefore, I thought it worthwhile to ask what others on DU think of the tune.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

28. sorry your own thin skinned sensiblities were offended. now. thread/trashed. n/t

[Orrex]

35. Offended? Perhaps you're projecting.

I'm not offended at all. I'm simply recognizing the conspicuous and anachronistic foregrounding of a blackface minstrel ditty in an otherwise entirely non-political setting on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

If this offends your southern pride (as distinguished from nationalist pride, of course), then I apologize.

[Jamastiene]

83. A company based in a northern state playing it is kind of odd.

Plus, on Dr. King's birthday, when they normally don't play that genre/style of music is kind of odd too. Is there a way to take this up the chain of command at the company and see who was behind it and what their reasons were?

[Orrex]

97. I could ask, but I imagine that they contract with some 3rd-party company for their hold music

Since it happened yesterday (and presumably not for another 364 days), they'll likely nod and then politely consign my request to the circular file.

[lunasun]

95. wished you had added this info to the OP ... The company/person

who decided to play this on MLK day 2015 when they usually play elevator music on other days ?......Things that make you go Hmmm

During the civil rights movement and afterward, “Dixie” often served as an anthem for white southerners and a reminder of slavery and racism for African Americans.
Bryant’s (blackface) Minstrels premiered it in New York City on April 4, 1859. Dan Emmett (a white native of Ohio) wrote it when he was a member of the Bryant’s Minstrels troupe to be performed on stage in blackface

sing it fans !

Dar’s buckwheat cakes an’ Injun batter,
Makes you fat or a little fatter;
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
Den hoe it down and scratch your grabble,
To Dixie’s land I’m bound to trabble,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land.
CHORUS:
Den I wish I was in Dixie, Hoo-ray! Hoo-ray!
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.

Oh and "Injun batter" is cornmeal mush
There were many versions during the war but 3 primary during the civil war were Original ,Union, Confederate lyrics here
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dixie%27s_Land

Lincoln's version he liked after the war was called Unionized Dixie with dif words same melody (is my understanding), sung by Union soldiers and Lincoln claimed to have recaptured the song from the south -input from any history buffs- is this correct? i could be wrong but here is a Dixie Union version anyway
Away down South in the land of traitors,
Rattlesnakes and alligators,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.
Where cotton's king and men are chattels,
Union boys will win the battles,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.

(Chorus)

Then we'll all go down to Dixie,
Away, away,
Each Dixie boy must understand
That he must mind his Uncle Sam,
Away, away,
And we'll all go down to Dixie.

[cwydro]

55. I love the song too Tuesday

for the same reasons you do.

[Pooka Fey]

71. Interesting - I love music history. Thanks.

[underpants]

4. I just look away

[benz380]

12. lol. n/t

[MrMickeysMom]

21. +1

[BillZBubb]

5. Not on any of my playlists.

Regionalism and silliness.

[Hoyt]

7. When it's used to glorify confederates, antebellum times, racism, etc., I don't like it.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. yes.

[Bettie]

9. This

100%

[IDemo]

10. It is not a recommended prosecutorial tool:

Idaho Court Throws Out Conviction After Prosecutor Recites 'Dixie'

Prosecutors have until Jan. 9 to decide whether to appeal a ruling tossing out the conviction of a black Idaho man because the prosecutor quoted lyrics to the Southern Civil War anthem "Dixie."

The man, James D. Kirk, 46, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his 2013 conviction on charges of lewd conduct and sexual battery of a minor child. But in a ruling made public this week, the Idaho Court of Appeals overturned Kirk's conviction, finding that Canyon County Deputy Prosecutor Erica Kallin's recitation of "Dixie" during closing arguments unconstitutionally tainted his trial by "injecting the risk of racial prejudice into the case." The state attorney general's office told The Idaho Statesman of Boise that it was still reviewing the opinion.

In the ruling, which is dated Dec. 19, the court quoted Kallin as having told jurors: "Ladies and gentlemen, when I was a kid we used to like to sing songs a lot. I always think of this one song. Some people know it. It's the Dixie song. Right? 'Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton. Good times not forgotten. Look away. Look away. Look away.' And isn't that really what you've kind of been asked to do?"

In an eight-page opinion, the court wrote that while Kallin's citation of the song was "indirect and perhaps innocently made," any invocation of race, "even if subtle and oblique, may be violative of due process or equal protection." In Kirk's case, the court said, "the prosecutor's mention of the title, 'Dixie,' as well as the specific lyrics recited by the prosecutor, referring to 'the land of cotton,' expressly evoke that setting with all its racial overtones."

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/idaho-court-throws-out-conviction-after-prosecutor-recites-dixie-n277906

[Gman]

22. I like it. It's meaningful if you live in the south

It's reminiscent of bygone days. It has meaning relevant to not only confederate times but also to more simple times.

I know when I'm somewhere up north, there comes a point if I'm there too long I just want to be back in Texas, the south.

[NOLALady]

66. I live in the South.

The song is meaningful. I do not like it.

[benz380]

11. I like Dwight Yokam's version of it. n/t

[Tuesday Afternoon]

15. love me some Dwight Yokam. are you referring to I Sang Dixie ... ?

[benz380]

18. Yep!

"I Sang Dixie"

I sang Dixie, as he died
But people just walked on by, as I cried
The bottle had robbed him, of all his rebel pride
So I sang Dixie, as he died

He said way down yonder in the land of cotton, old times there ain't near as rotten
As they are on this damned old L.A. street
Then he drew a dying breath, and laid his head against my chest
Please Lord, take his soul back home to Dixie

And I sang Dixie, as he died
But people just walked on by, as I cried
The bottle had robbed him, of all his rebel pride
So I sang Dixie, as he died

He said listen to me son while you still can, run back home to that Southern land
Don't you see, what life here has done to me
Then he closed those old blue eyes, and fell limp, against my side
No more pain, and now he's safe back home in Dixie

And I sang Dixie, as he died
But people just walked on by, as I cried
The bottle had robbed him, of all his rebel pride
So I sang Dixie as he died

I sang Dixie as he, died

[Igel]

14. Confused and inconsistent.

Too many layers of irony, sarcasm, rewrites, and revisionism to have just one impression.

What do I think about it in various contexts? Used at different points in time?

It's one thing if it's satire, another if it's used in a Confederate battle, another if it's used in a dippy period movie. Humming it as you wander through a restored Southern plantation house is one thing; humming it as you look at the slave quarters associated with that plantation house is another--assuming that you even stop to think about the words and layers of meaning that they're credited to have.

It's become a symbol, and symbols have no inherent meaning. They only have meanings that individuals and groups attribute to them. When different meanings are attributed to a symbol, that's fine as along as everybody says, "Ah, well, they mean something different."

Problems arise when we believe only our meaning is the symbol's real meaning. Or when we don't like the meaning others attribute to it.

The most confused variant is when we assume another group is attributing a meaning to the symbol that they don't think they are. In this kind of argument, those doing the attributing have the upper hand. They know what they mean, one assumes. The only possible counterargument is that they're lying or being deceitful, in which case the entire argument stops being rooted in logic and is mostly rooted in suspicion and ill-will. Often it devolves into, "Well, they may think they're telling the truth, but they're really deceiving themselves." Q.E.D.

[on point]

16. Catchy tune that unfortunately celebrates a horrible way of life.

Wish someone would write some lyrics to replace the old lyrics with something that celebrates the elimination of slavery and the progress of the south...

[TheCowsCameHome]

17. I always liked it, and still do.

[MineralMan]

19. It's not a song that has ever been relevant in my life.

Nor is it one that ever will be.

[LWolf]

20. Catchy tune

"patriotic" lyrics.

I like the tune. I'm not a fan of "patriotism" of any sort, or of the vast majority of "patriotic" music.

Our national anthem, for example, nauseates me. As if I were going to stand and rejoice in hearing a song about bombs, or wax rhapsodic over a flag, which reeks of unabridged nationalism. The original lyrics of "Dixie," in contrast, are relatively mild, if the unspoken sentiments were not.

[MrMickeysMom]

23. Because of it's origins, it has no value to me...

Even though the tune was a good one, the author of those words was white, dressed up as a negro and sang this tune, which has always been associated with the land where money could flow from tobacco and cotton.

I'd rather re-write the tune, since it's a good one and provide it meaning.

[femmocrat]

27. Elvis' version is the best (part of An American Trilogy).

I think some could take it as a throwback to support for the confederacy. It seems like more of a historic folk song to me. I'm not offended by it, but I do take offense at the local yahoos with huge confederate flags on their pickup trucks. Some of them have "Dixie" for a horn sound. Obnoxious and racist, IMO.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

30. tried to find a version w/out the triology. but, yes This Thread was not complete w/out some Elvis.

thanks.

no need to reply. thread is trashed.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

34. Elvis had the grace to follow it with the "Battle Hymn of The Republic"

He would have probably never done it as a stand alone song.

[Enrique]

47. also the sweatiest version

[Iggo]

29. The melody is real pretty.

I like it.

[amandabeech]

100. Yes, I like the melody, too, whether it's the slow Elvis version or more of a march.

The connotation with slavery is odious, however.

[Journeyman]

31. President Lincoln liked it so much, he claimed it for the Union almost 150 years ago. . .

I can never understand why neo-Confederates insist on using a song the North lawfully claimed as a prize of war.

On 10 April 1865, one day after the surrender of General Robert E. Lee, 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.

http://democraticthinker.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/abraham-lincoln-i-wish-i-was-in-dixie/

[Nye Bevan]

33. I generally hate it except for this one version that I REALLY like:

http://tinyurl.com/2dat5kt

[femmocrat]

36. .

[Iggo]

38. .

yes!!!

[pennylane100]

37. How did the word dixie come from.

I always thought of it as a catchy tune that people from that area liked to sing. Have no idea about about its history. The only other comment I have is that as a person who spent my younger years singing drinking songs in pubs, I do not think it would be a good one

[Art_from_Ark]

43. There are at least two theories about the origins of "Dixie"

One is that it comes from the "Dixon" part of the Mason-Dixon line, a surveyors' line which set the boundary between Pennsylvania ("North&quot and Maryland ("South&quot . Another claims that it may have come from French-language $10 banknotes that were used in New Orleans which contained the word "DIX" (French for "ten&quot in very large letters.

[calimary]

46. Aha! I was wondering that myself. I thought it might come from the "Mason-Dixon line"

but wasn't sure.

[Orrex]

53. I thought that it came from the disposable paper cups

[Art_from_Ark]

59. The song predates the name of the paper cups by more than 60 years

Apparently, Dixie Cups got their name in 1919 from the Dixie Doll Company, which was based in New York, of all places.

http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/dixiecup.htm

[nolabear]

65. I like these Dixie Cups better.

In case anyone still doesn't know, this is about Mardi Gras Indians.

[aikoaiko]

77. je approuve

[DonCoquixote]

70. nods, when I went to Nola

There is a Walgreens near Royal st that stands where the Bank that issued these notes was, and it is marked by a plaque.

[hollowdweller]

39. Was it not written tongue in cheek by black people??

[lunasun]

96. No- original was by a white person in blackface performances NYC see post 95

[Warren Stupidity]

40. Hasn't it become the racist national anthem?

[Orrex]

50. In certain contexts, yes

In others, such associations are seen as ridiculous despite decades of evidence.

[Tom Ripley]

41. It's no "Camptown Races"

That's for sure

[Orrex]

49. Doo-Dah, Doo-Dah

[jberryhill]

61. It's De Camp Town Ladies

And if you think about what the ladies are doing around the camp town, then one wonders if the lyrics have been bowdlerized, or camoflauge a dual meaning.

Horses do not run all night.

And I would not come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee, nor mess around in the kitchen with Dinah.

[Orrex]

62. Next, you'll tell me that Foghorn isn't a real rooster

Another illusion shattered.

[jberryhill]

63. Listen when I'm talkin', boy

[Munificence]

79. Cool

You're the Doo-Dah man....keep truckin' on.

[Pooka Fey]

73. LOL

[Jetboy]

42. My ears enjoy the song but if people are playing it to

offend others then I don't like it at all.

[Art_from_Ark]

44. I learned it in elementary school in Arkansas

This was around the time of the Civil War Centennial and I was just becoming aware of Arkansas being a slave state and being on the wrong side in the Civil War, so I didn't like it and refused to sing the proper lyrics. Nowadays, though, I no longer associate it with the Confederacy and the song doesn't bother me, except the part about "Injun" batter.

[olddots]

45. so you're on hold and the hold muzak is Dixie ?

strange they would program that just for today or is that the normal hold tune ?

I see your concern .

[Orrex]

48. Exactly

I call that line frequently, and I've heard their muzak track 20 to 30 times a week for 3 1/2 years, and it's never been anything but soft rock 90s stuff. They don't even change for the Christmas season

But today of all days it's Dixie.

[muntrv]

51. I prefer "Battle Hymn of The Republic."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_Hymn_of_the_Republic#Lyrics

[Jackpine Radical]

52. Kinda risqué, isn't it?

And who is this Dixie Land, anyway?

[Inkfreak]

94. A woman of scandalous nature and irredeemable reputation, to be sure.

[Lex]

54. Abraham Lincoln said that it was his favorite song.

"I have always thought `Dixie’ one of the best tunes I have ever heard." - Abraham Lincoln

[Orrex]

60. Then again, he never got to hear "Call Me Maybe"

[cwydro]

56. I like The Band's take

"The Night They drove old Dixie down"

Great song.

[Munificence]

80. Big

fan of "The Band" here....that is indeed a great song, ranks up there with one of my favorites.

[Blue_In_AK]

57. It's historical.

I've heard it done beautifully (I lived in Texas, after all), but it shouldn't have much relevance today.

[Telcontar]

58. 19th C version of Sweet Home Alabama

Enjoy the tune.

[Thinkingabout]

64. Believe it or not this song has lived in many lives, black and white alike, having spent time in the

Cotton fields which was not reserved for black or white. I have sang the song for years, Elvis could do the song like no other. Do I plan to listen to and sing this song in the future, yes I will. For those who want to say I am racist are themselves racists.

[Orrex]

69. I wasn't aware that anyone had said you're racist.

I would say that the song has conspicuous racial overtones, and that it's been co-opted by groups with a decidedly racist mindset, but if you like the song then by all means listen to it and sing it.

I'd suggest only that you maintain an awareness of the context in which you sing it, lest you open yourself up to a response that you might not wish.

[NaturalHigh]

67. It doesn't bother me.

Mind you it's hardly my favorite song, but I remember that we used to sing it in elementary music class. It's hardly a racist song. As I recall, it was often sung throughout the South by whites and blacks alike.

[linuxman]

68. I like it.

[Pooka Fey]

72. If I say I like it, am I going to be called a racist?

Last edited Tue Jan 20, 2015, 07:03 AM - Edit history (1)

Because I come from about 12 generations of Louisianans. How could I not like "Dixie"?

Is your post flame-bait, or are you just checking up on DU, in case some of us have strayed from the flock? I couldn't help noticing the schooling you gave to poster #64, when she said she liked it:

I would say that the song has conspicuous racial overtones, and that it's been co-opted by groups with a decidedly racist mindset, but if you like the song then by all means listen to it and sing it.

I'd suggest only that you maintain an awareness of the context in which you sing it, lest you open yourself up to a response that you might not wish.

Just an innocent question about our musical tastes, my ass. Can you say "passive aggressive"?

[Orrex]

75. Did you read the thread?

I don't believe anyone has accused anyone of racism.

Because I come from about 12 generations of Louisianans. How could I not like "Dixie"?

Why would your place of birth determine whether you should like a song or not? That's as silly as saying that you have to root for a certain sports team simply because they're based in your city.

Root for whoever you wish. Like whatever song you like. But don't blame it on your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents' address.

Just an innocent question about our musical tastes, my ass. Can you say "passive aggressive"?

I made no assertion of innocence in asking the question, so I have no obligation to respond to that claim. I asked the question for a specific reason on a specific day. You have a strange definition of "passive aggressive," but in the interest of clarity I will a different question:

[font color="blue"]Why would a Pennsylvania-based company pre-empt its usual year-round program of blandly inoffensive 90s-pop muzak in order to play a song with problematic racist baggage specifically on Martin Luther King Jr. Day? [/font]

To many African-Americans, "Dixie" is a symbol of racism and slavery. Thomasina Neely-Chandler, an ethnomusicologist and music professor at Spelman College in Atlanta, says the important thing to remember is that "Dixie" is a harmful misrepresentation of blacks.

"It's not the song or the text," Neely-Chandler says, "So much as how it's used in a distorted way to present a particular people with an image that really doesn't represent them."

In the years after the Civil War, "Dixie" was embraced by whites, but increasingly rejected by blacks. The divide over the song deepened during the early days of the civil rights movement.

"{Blacks} would sing a song like "We Shall Overcome" or "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," University of Mississippi historian Charles Reagan Wilson says. "But then opponents of integration and black rights would sing 'Dixie' as a kind of counter-song asserting white privilege and white supremacy."

Source

You are welcome to insist that this blackface minstrel ditty itself isn't racist (though you might want to explain "Injun batter&quot , but the fact remains that the song has in recent decades served specifically as a direct rebutal to civil rights marches and rallies.

But you and your 12 generations are still welcome to sing it, of course.

[Pooka Fey]

84. Did I strike a nerve? By all minds, continue policing DU for thought crimes

You are welcome to insist that this blackface minstrel ditty itself isn't racist (though you might want to explain "Injun batter&quot , but the fact remains that the song has in recent decades served specifically as a direct rebutal to civil rights marches and rallies.

Just a HINT of Southerner bashing, Orrex, but we're used to it. Are you assuming I'm white?

But just so it's stated clearly to un-jumble the muddle in your brain, Southerner DOES NOT EQUAL Racist., even if that old 19th song has been misused by some, including some people born North of the Mason Dixie line. If Abe Lincoln liked it, I can like it.

Maybe if you drew yourself a logic diagram.

[Orrex]

85. You didn't strike anything at all, but your response is predictable

Just a HINT of Southerner bashing, Orrex, but we're used to it. Are you assuming I'm white?

If you can refute the excerpt that I cited, then please do so. Do you deny that the song has been used in that way and for that purpose? You can take that up with Professor Neely-Chandler.

Also, I'm not assuming anything at all about you. Are you assuming that I care whether or not you're white?

Southerner DOES NOT EQUAL Racist.

Find one post by me in the entire history of the internet in which I have claimed that Southerner equals racist. I have never once made that claim because it is not true.

Pointing out that a blackface minstrel ditty is sung as a means of expressing white privilege and supremacy is not the same as claiming that "Southerner equals racist." You are making a baseless accusation that merits no further response.


Interesting that you imagine yourself to have struck a nerve, when your first response was to declare your Louisiana lineage as if it were in any way relevant to the meaning or history of the song. Sounds like I struck a nerve.

[Pooka Fey]

90. How is Louisiana RELEVANT to a song titled "DIXIE", you ask? Are you fucking shitting me?

Interesting that you imagine yourself to have struck a nerve, when your first response was to declare your Louisiana lineage as if it were in any way relevant to the meaning or history of the song. Sounds like I struck a nerve.

When the poster lives so far out in Never Never Land, all I can say is "Oy vey ist mir". And BUH-BYE

[Orrex]

91. Please calm down and read my reply again.

How is Louisiana RELEVANT to a song titled "DIXIE", you ask?

No, that's not what I ask, obviously.

Please explain how your Louisiana lineage is in any way relevant to the meaning or history of the song.

I'm not asking you to explain how your Louisiana lineage makes the song precious and special to you, because I don't care in the slightest.

Did you write the song? Did your grandfatherX12 write the song? Does the fact of your lineage change the fact that the song has been chanted in rebuttal to civil rights protests?

How is your personal 12-generation Louisiana lineage in any way relevant to the racist history of this blackface minstrel ditty?

[PaddyIrishman]

74. Bob Dylan sings it

And that's good enough for me.

[1bigdude]

76. Very PROUD to be a Southerner! No prob w/ the song whatsoever! nt

[Orrex]

82. Out of curiosity, why are you proud to be a southerner?

I'm not "proud" to live where I live, for instane, nor "proud" to have been born where I was born.

What is the source of this pride?

[1bigdude]

87. Proud of my beautiful state (SC). I've lived quite an enjoyable life here. NT

[Orrex]

88. I haven't been there in decades, but I'm sure that it's lovely.

The notion of State pride is baffling to me. I don't see how I might have "pride" in my state except to the extent that I have helped to improve it, for example.

I'm proud of my own house, because we've worked hard to make sustantial improvements to it. It's less clear to me how/why I would feel pride simply for living in a place, even if it's beautiful and enjoyable. I don't take pride in a gorgeous hotel room, for instance.

YMMV

[1bigdude]

89. Perhaps it just comes down to the fact that people are different. The image of the SC state flag

(palm tree and crescent moon) is EVERYWHERE here!

[Jamastiene]

78. To me, it is just a song.

The only time I am likely to hear it is maybe in some old western movie or something. No one that I know sings it or anything. I'm in the south and don't see it as anything but a song from an era that has since passed. To be quite honest, I'm not quite sure what I am supposed to think of it. It doesn't have any big significance to me.

Others, I am sure may love it or hate it. There is nothing significant about it to me, though. It's just a song.

[Adrahil]

81. It's an interesting piece of history.

I don't have any particular "feelings" about it. I don't consider it offensive really.

[oldlib2]

86. It's a pretty tune

used to support a shitty cause.

[rock]

92. I like it

[Inkfreak]

93. None whatsoever. (nt)

[theboss]

98. I've heard some really powerful slowed-down versions of it

Bob Dylan has a cool version of it from Masked and Anonymous.

I have a feeling that this question is really asking, Does the hijacking of Dixie by Neo-Confederates make you hate the song?"

[gladium et scutum]

99. I like the tune

But not the words. Here is how we sang Dixie

Way down South, in the land of traitors
Rattlesnakes and alligators
Right Away, Come Away, Right Away, Dixie land
Where Cottons king and me are chattels
Union Boys will win the battles.
Right Away, Come Away, Right Away, Dixie land
Then we'll all go down to Dixie
Away, Away.
Each Dixie Boy must understand
that he must mind his Uncle Sam
Away, Away,
And we'll all go down to Dixie

[Tanuki]

101. Slightly off-topic, but this PBS special on Civil War-era music

includes performances of Dixie, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Bonnie Blue Flag, Rally Round the Flag, spirituals, and more. Look for some of the Oak Ridge Boys, Crystal Gayle, the Fisk Jubilee Singers, etc.
I enjoyed it and you might, too.
http://video.wnpt.org/video/2331456732/

As to your question, it's unfortunate that such a delightfully catchy tune as Dixie is tainted by association with so much pain and suffering, but that is the reality. I would never sing it or play it because I know that it causes great offense. I think that whoever programmed Dixie for "hold music" on Martin Luther King Day was being a wise ass and probably laughed about it with their racist friends.

[Orrex]

102. Thank you

You've summed up my impression exactly.