The writer seems to be saying that the lyrics were 'corrected' for PCness. Therefore, the version in which the Massa is in the ground seems to give foundation to your remark about minstrel shows, etc. Sweet Sunny South (Take Me Back) *
Take me back to the place where I first saw the light To the sweet sunny south take me home Where the mockingbird sang me to sleep in the night Oh, why was I tempted to roam?
Well, I think with regret of the dear home I left Of the warm hearts that sheltered me then Of the loved ones and family of whom I'm bereft And I sigh for the old place again
Take me back to the place where the orange trees grow To my cot in the evergreen shade Where the flowers on the river's green margin did grow And spread their sweet scents through the glade
Oh, the path to our cottage they say has grown green And the place is quite lonely around And I know that the faces and forms I have seen Now lie deep in the cold mossy ground
Take me back to the place where my little ones sleep And my parents are buried close by O'er the graves of my loved ones I long for to weep And among them to rest when I die
Oh, and yet I'll return to the home of my birth Where my children have played 'round the door Where they plucked the wild flowers that bloomed from the earth That will echo their footsteps no more
Take me back, let me see what is left that I knew Can it be that the old house is gone? Oh, the friends of my childhood indeed must be few And I must be left all alone
Take me back to the place where I first saw the light To the sweet sunny south take me home Where the mockingbird sang me to sleep in the night Oh, why was I tempted to roam? Oh, why was I tempted to roam?
* I wrote this out from memory, not from any particular version. I originally got my version from the "official" lyric in the book "Heart Songs", but modified it to modernize it, gender- neutralize it, and/or make it more politically correct. Since then, I've probably forgotten or garbled it some.
When I perform this, I sing the verses in pairs, with solos between pairs of verses. For that reason, I repeat the first verse at the end, so it'll come out even. (Also, that warns people that the end is coming.)