Although known as a Southern anthem, “Dixie’s Land,” aka “Dixie” was written for the minstrel stage by Daniel Decatur Emmett in New York City. The song was so popular in the South that it became generally accepted as the rallying song of the Confederacy.
Abraham Lincoln loved the song since he first heard it at a show by the Rumsey and Newcomb Minstrels in Chicago in 1860. According to a fellow attorney who attended the show with him, after “Dixie’s Land” was played, Lincoln clapped and shouted “Let’s have it again! Let’s have it again!”
With the end to the Civil War, which had lasted four years, seemingly in sight, President Lincoln gave his Second Inaugural Address on March 4, 1865. He proclaimed, “With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds.” With that idea in mind, on April 8, 1865, the day before Confederate commander Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant, Lincoln requested that a military band on board the River Queen play “Dixie’s Land,“ the song to which nearly all of the Southern attacks had been conducted. According to a French writer who accompanied him, Lincoln said, “That tune is now Federal property and it is good to show the rebels that, with us in power, they will be free to hear it again.”
Lyrics
chorus:
Oh, 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
verses:
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
Old Missus marry Will, the weaver
William was a gay deceiver
Look away! Look away!
Look away! Dixie Land
But when he put his arm around her
He smiled as fierce as a forty pounder
Look away! Look away!
Look away! Dixie Land
His face was sharp as a butcher’s cleaver
But that did not seem to grieve her
Look away! Look away!
Look away! Dixie Land
Old Missus acted the foolish part
And died for a man that broke her heart
Look away! Look away!
Look away! Dixie Land
Now here’s a health to the next old Missus
And all the gals that want to kiss us
Look away! Look away!
Look away! Dixie Land
But if you want to drive away sorrow
Come and hear this song tomorrow
Look away! Look away!
Look away! Dixie Land