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The story behind Stephen Foster’s “Swanee River”
Humming Our State Song
“We have our national hero in Stephen Foster. More songwriter than composer, and with a naturalness of feeling that places his melodies with the folk song, his simplicity and honesty are not easy to imitate.” —Aaron Copland
Among American composers of the 19th century (take a moment and think—how many can you name?), few can match the reputation and impact of Stephen Foster (1826-1864), who is often referred to as the “Father of American Music.” During the course of his brief life of 37 years, he wrote some 200 songs, which showcase his uncanny gifts for melody. Once heard, who can forget such works as “Beautiful Dreamer,” “Gentle Annie,” “My Old Kentucky Home” and “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair”?
Just as “My Old Kentucky Home” has served as that state’s official song since 1928, here in Florida, another Foster favorite, “Old Folks at Home” (1851, also known as “Swanee River”) has been our state song since 1935. But how this came to pass is a surprising story.
Foster, a Pennsylvania native, never visited Florida. While composing “Old Folks at Home,” the story goes that he was searching for a two-syllable river name to incorporate into the lyrics. After rejecting Mississippi’s Yazoo River and South Carolina’s Pee Dee River, Florida’s Suwannee River became the name of choice after Foster and his brother consulted an atlas. Foster even altered the spelling of the river’s name to “Swanee,” to better fit the melody. Thus, “Old Folks at Home” could easily have ended up as the state song of Mississippi or South Carolina—or indeed any other state with a two-syllable river name—had Foster chosen differently.
Foster wrote the song for one of the minstrel troupes that were popular at that time, giving the exclusive rights to E.P. Christy of Christy’s Minstrels, and allowing Christy to list himself as the composer. The title page of the original edition lists the song as an “Ethiopian melody,” no doubt for marketing purposes and to suggest a kind of authenticity (if a dubious one).
The lyrics depict a wandering African slave who longs for “de old plantation” where his parents remain. It is not clear from the lyrics why he has left, or why he has been wandering. Foster’s words take pains to humanize the slave’s feelings and experiences, but also romanticize life on the plantation.
Revisions to the lyrics (consisting mostly of removing the original African slave dialect) were adopted by the state of Florida as recently as 2008, with the approval of the Stephen Foster Memorial on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. However, word substitutions had already long been the practice in performance.
Despite its problematic antebellum setting, “Swanee River,” as with other Foster songs, has retained an enormous popularity to this day. It has inspired countless arrangements— no one performs the song with the original printed, rudimentary piano accompaniment.
Crooners such as Bing Crosby recorded their interpretations of the song, as did Louis Armstrong, along with swing bandleaders such as Jimmy Lunceford, and classical violinists Fritz Kreisler and Jascha Heifetz. In 1939, William Grant Still, known today as the “Dean” of African-American composers, made beautiful but little-known arrangements for piano solo and chorus.
Even the famed Czech composer Antonín Dvořák created a version for soprano, baritone, choir and orchestra in 1894 during his visit to America. He noted at the time that Foster’s songs represented a “true expression of the people’s real feelings.” Whether or not that observation remains true today, Foster’s legacy of indelible melodies continues to shape our current musical landscape.
Pianist, composer and musicologist Erik Entwistle received an undergraduate degree in music from Dartmouth College. He earned a post-graduate degree in piano performance at Washington University in St. Louis and his doctorate in musicology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He teaches on Sanibel Island.