THE SOUTH WIND (c) Jed Marum, 2012, trad melody

My heart is alive
Where the south winds blows
Where the rivers wind down to the sea
Through the days of my life
Where the south winds blows
Winds a spirit affirming and free

A man's a man, so the poet said
In spite of the powers that be
And the man of independent mind
Like the South Wind is sovereign and free


There's a meaning to life
Where the south winds blows
Where the rivers wind down to the sea
There a man can be all that he's meant to be
In command of his own destiny

"Every knee must bend for the will of the state"
As the ruling class sages decree
But the man of independent mind
Like the South Wind is sovereign and free


There's a sense of self-worth
Where the south winds blows
Where the rivers run down to the sea
And the blessing that heaven and earth bestows
Is the life that is fruitful and free

Give fools their silk, and give knaves their wine,
Their tinsel shows nothing of gold
While the honest man, who will toil and grind
Brings worth to his family and fold.


The song uses the old Irish melody, The Southwind and borrows imagery from Robert Burns' poem, "A Man's A Man For A' That." It ties Scottish Reformation ideas of self worth to the new American ideals and first principles of freedom, self reliance and personal responsibility. The early settlers of the US, especially the southeast - were the Scots Irish who would have brought these reformation ideas with them and developed them into the core of American (and southern) culture.