Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-09-28
SONGS THAT WILL NEVER DIE
Dixie.

ME Blue Flag" or Maryland, My
Maryland'.was of wholly northern
parentage.
The original "Dixie"--wor6s and
music-was composed by Dan Emmett
of Bryant's minstrels, and was first
sung by that troupe in New York in
1860. The words are little better than
doggerel, cast in that same supposed
~ darky or plantation dialect which
distinguishes Stephen Collins Fosters
so-called Negro Melodies" For in
stance, here is the first verse:
Il wish was in de Ian OBJ cotton,
or times dar er not forgotten
Look away, look away, look away.
DiXies Land!
In Dixie Land whar / wuz born in,
Early on one frosty mornin'-
Look away, look away, look away!
DiXie's Land!
(Refrain.)
In Dixie Land I'll take my stand,
Hooray, hooray!
In Dixie Land I'll take my stand,
To lib and die in Dixie!
Away, away!
Away down souf in Dixie!
And so on, for several verses more
These were the words at first popu-
larly sung, containing no reference
whatever to the impending civil war;
Dixie Land" of course, refers to the
states south of Mason and Dixons
line, the former boundary of slavedom
to the expatriated negro often a fabu-
lous realm of peace plenty and indo-
lence, like The Scottish Land O. the
Leal." or the Fortunate islands of the
ancients.
that the minstrel words were never
sung at the south, where the melody
speedily became popular, but only
those written by General Albert Pike,
first printed in the Charleston Mer-
curry early in 1861.
Oddly, too, Albert Pike was a north
erner and native of Massachusetts.
He was a man of force and distinc-
ton. In 1871 he explored the wilds Of
the southwest with party of old-time
trappers and scouts, afterward editing
a newspaper at Little Rock, Ark, and
studying law between whiles. He
served with honor in the Mexican war;
but on the outbreak of the rebellion he
entered the confederate service at the
head of a body of Cherokee Indians
whom he led with gallantry at the
battle of Pea Ridge.
Gen. Pixies words are almost too
good for the rollicking tune of Dixie"
yet their rather stately rhythm COM
pels a slower rendering of the melody
and lends it dignity:
Southrons hear your country call you!
Up! lest worse than death befall you!
To arms To arms! To arms in
Lot all the beacon fires are lighted,
Let our hearts be now united!
To arms! To arms! To arms in
Dixie!
(Refrain.l
Advance the flag of Dixie!
Hurrah! Hurrah
For Dixie's Land We'll take our stand,
To live and die for Dixie!
We can perceive haw the author was
obsessed by the measures of the catchy
melody, and some extent also by
the refrain of the original negro min
strel words; and yet, also, we may
trace an echo in Gen. Pixies words of
ITO Arms. Ye Brave!" found in the
immortal "Marseillaise" of Rouget de
Lisle.
The song literally fired the heart Of
the south and became as typical IF
the southern soldiers as the equally
famous rebel YELL When the union
army would charge singing John
Browns Body" the 'rebs" retorted
with their tantalizingly fascinating
Dixie The two songs crossed the
Atlantic in company. and in London
for two or three years formed the
chief repertoire of itinerant bands,
barrel-organs and street boys. Refer
ring to this the Spectator said: "Ail
England has decided in favor of Dix
ie' and John Brown 10 the exclusion
of the infinitely better Maryland or
Marching Through Georgia.
Down to the present day Dixie"
retains its popularity at the south or
wherever southern men and women
do congregate, and in the "Iate un
pleasantness' with Spain, when the
martial spirits of the reunited nation
were welded together against com
mon foe, Dixie" came into it's own
again. Sung by the men of the north
land and the southland alike. The
war-worn old melody exemplified the
happy truth that there is today "no
north, no south. Frederick Reddall,
in the Chicago Journal