Song Name: Dixie (also known as "Dixie's Land" and "I Wish I Was in Dixie")
Year of Release: 1860
Written By: Daniel Decatur Emmett (others have also claimed to be the lyricist, but he is generally recognized as the songwriter who wrote the music)
Released by: Never formally recorded, though renditions exist
Key Lyrics: "In Dixieland I take my stand to live and die in Dixie."
"I wish I was in the land of cotton/Old times there are not forgotten."
Description: Daniel Decatur Emmett, the man generally recognized as the songwriter, has given conflicting accounts of its origins. However, one prevailing theory states that the song originated from minstrel shows, and one piece of evidence supporting the theory is that the first recorded performance of a song called "Dixie's Land" (which is an alternate name for the song) was on April 4th, 1859, at a minstrel show in New York. Other purported origins include a circus song, an unnamed Black man, and a Black family band named the Snowden Family Band. Advocates of the latter theory claim that the lyrics are satirical and anti-slavery in meaning, though Emmett's claims about having met the Snowden sons are scrutinized since the sons he claimed to have met were small children in 1860. The song's lyrics are anti-abolitionist and not only support but advocate for slavery. In addition, during minstrel shows, the lead actor playing an African American man expressed a desire to return to his plantation.
Why It Was Important: Beyond the war, the song popularized the term "Dixie" as a nickname for the American South. Like other songs of the conflict, it was appropriated by both sides, with Union soldiers rewriting the lyrics and singing the revised versions. Both sides also parodied the song and made it about things like camp food or simply wrote nonsensical lyrics. Along with "The Bonnie Blue Flag," and "God Save the South," it was one of the three de facto national anthems of the South. Many Northerners criticized the pro-slavery lyrics of the song, arguing that it was initially written by black people as a satirical critique of slavery, and shunned the appropriation of such a song to be used for pro-slavery propaganda. Ironically enough, Abraham Lincoln was a fan of the song and requested that it be played at events such as his 1860 presidential campaign and to a crowd outside the White House the day after the Confederate surrender, showing that no matter how strongly a song became associated with one side of the war, the other side could still find enjoyment.
Recordings:
Confederate Song - I Wish I Was In Dixie Land (with lyrics) (YouTube rendition) Note: "I Wish I was In Dixie Land" is an alternate name for the song, and the link is not to a different song