Posted on 07/27/2013 2:58:07 PM PDT by BigReb555
During my childhood of the 50s, songs like “Swanee River”, “Mammy” and “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee”, all best sung by the late great Al Jolson, were very popular in the South and throughout the USA.
(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...
The Sons of Confederate Veterans, www.scv.org, hosted their 118th National Reunion during the month of July, 2013 in Vicksburg, Mississippi and Christine Barr an award-winning professor of English and resident of Katy, Texas wrote a beautiful article about the SCV Convention and Southern Heritage. Read more at:
http://www.parispi.net/articles/2013/07/22/opinion/columns/doc51ed6358c8449269901895.txt
Do you remember the movie and the actor who said, “I give you our homeland, glorious in defeat, gallant in victory and brave in her hour of grief…Gentlemen, I give you the South and confusion to all her enemies?” See the answer at end of article.
You ain’t just whistling Dixie; I’m American by birth and Southern by the grace of God and….
Do you remember when men and women of African, Asian, European, Hispanic, Jewish, Oriental and American-Indian ancestry were proud to be Americans? In the peach state, we are Georgia Crackers, love catfish and hush puppies, miss Lewis Grizzard and stand up when the band plays the National Anthem or Dixie. We once even had a baseball team called the “Atlanta Crackers” but still love RC Cola and moon pies, fly Delta and read “Uncle Remus” stories to our children.
A young Southern lady recently told me that songs like “Dixie” and “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” offended some people and probably why they should not be played. The question today might be are we still the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave or have we become the land of the offended and home of always complaining people?
It seems like some folks are offended by anything they don’t understand, while others aren’t offended but are afraid to speak up in fear of being called racist…But, then there are many brave folks who proudly stand up for what they believe is right.
During my childhood of the 50s, songs like “Swanee River”, “Mammy” and “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee”, all best sung by the late great Al Jolson, were very popular in the South and throughout the USA. At my elementary school we sang songs that included a Southern--War Between the States song “Goober Peas.” There are probably some who have a problem with this song about Confederate soldiers sitting of the road side and eating goober peas—peanuts…But, even Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce, played by Alan Alda, on the 70s hit TV show “Mash” sang this song in one of those many memorable episodes.
Do you remember the grand finally in the 1941 movie “Babes on Broadway” starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland? The song performed was “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee” written by Louis Wolfe Gilbert and Lewis Muir that include these words:
“Way down on the levy in old Alabamy, there’s Daddy and Mammy, there’s Ephraim and Sammy. On a moonlight night you can find them while they are waiting, the banjos are syncopating what’s that they’re saying. What’s that they’re saying? While they keep playing a-humming and swaying it’s the good ship Robert E. Lee.”
As a child my Mother woke my sister and me on schools days with such wonderful songs such as: “zippy de doo dah” from the 1946 Disney movie “Song of the South.”
The answer to the question at beginning of this article is the great Lionel Barrymore in the classic 1935 Fox movie “The Little Colonel” also starring the delightful Shirley Temple.
You all come back now, you here!
Hats off to my Suth'n Bruth'n.
By the way, in the coming war, this time I'm on your side.
My late wife danced and sang in their high school play. She once sang it for me and I recall one was “Waiting on the Robert E. Lee”.
Or was it “Waiting for the Robert E. Lee”?
On behalf of all of your true Southern brethren, thank you!
LLS
While in grade school in the 50’s we went to the auditorium for assembly about once a week, for singing. We used the “little Golden Songbook”, containing songs like, “Massa’s in de cold, cold ground”, “ Old Black Joe”, and “Dixie” among others, like, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again”, “Suanne River”, and “Onward Christian Soldiers”.
We sang them proud, and loud, with the full blessing of the school and the teachers.
This article made me recall a time years ago. I had to take a one credit course to graduate from college called “Music Appreciation.” I was surprised to find it very interesting. But one thing I heard was that if you want to find out what the people at any time in history were thinking about - listen to their music of the time. He pointed out that during the early 1800’s the “ Negro Spirituals” told of hard work - “lift that bale, tote that bar, get a little drunk and you land in jail.” There was no music that spoke to cruelty and torture.
Those lyrics are not from a Negro Spiritual. They are from "Ol' Man River", a song by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein, written in 1927, from the musical "Show Boat".
“Virgil, quick some see...”
“In the peach state, we are Georgia Crackers, love catfish and hush puppies, miss Lewis Grizzard and stand up when the band plays the National Anthem or Dixie. We once even had a baseball team called the “Atlanta Crackers” but still love RC Cola and moon pies, fly Delta and read “Uncle Remus” stories to our children. “
Dang straight!
"You all come back now, you here hear! "
IBTH!
In before the haters!
This is my favorite version of the tune. You'll notice that the lyrics are somewhat different.
The Day Conny Kramer Died--Juliane Werding (1972)
“...In 1972, a cover of the song called “Am Tag als Conny Kramer starb” (translation: “On the Day that Conny Kramer Died”) was a number-one hit in West Germany for singer Juliane Werding. For this version, the lyrics were not translated but rather changed completely to an anti-drug anthem about a young man dying because of his drug addiction...”
Hater here. Born in the South, always lived in the South, love the South. Absolutely hate the Zip E Doo Dah South, Happy Darky South, purposefully mispronouncing words or misspelling to be “Southern”, picking cotton South, being behind a mule South, professional Civil War loser Southerners, Big Daddy South, and down in the lowest pit with the Zip E Doo Dahers—no air conditioning South.
I embrace it all.
It is all a part of who I am.
Don’t be a hater!
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