The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #25204   Message #573968
Posted By: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
17-Oct-01 - 01:06 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Dixie
Subject: ADD: Dixie's Land (original version)
The original of Dixie's Land, Daniel Decatur Emmett, has not been posted. The following is from the Library website, University of Toronto, partly from MS (in Galbreath, from Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Library). Emmett was the son of an Abolitionist.

DIXIE'S LAND
(Daniel Decatur Emmett)

Dis worl' was made in jiss six days,
An' finish'd up in various ways;
Look away! look away! look away! Dixie Land!
Dey den made Dixie trim an' nice,
But Adam call'd it "Paradise."
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land!

Cho.: Den I wish I was in Dixie! Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie's Land we'll take our stand, to lib an' die in Dixie.
Away! Away! Away down south in Dixie.
Away! Away! Away down south in Dixie.

I wish I was in the land ob cotton,
Old times dar am not forgotten;
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land!
In Dixie Land whar I was born in,
Early on one frosty mornin',
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land!

In Dixie Land de darkies grow,
If white folks only plant dar toe;
Look away, etc.
Dey wet de groun' wid 'bakker smoke,
Den up de darkies heads will poke.
Look away, etc.

Missus married "Will de weaber";
Will he was a gay deceaber;
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land!
But when he put his arms around 'er,
He look as fierce as a forty-pounder,
Look away, look away, look away, Dixie Land!

Ole missus die, -- she took a decline,
Her face was de color ob bacon-rhine;
Look away, etc.
How could she act de foolish part,
An' marry a man to broke her heart.
Look away, etc.

Den here's a health to de next ole missus
An' all de galls dat want to kiss us;
Look away, etc.
Den hoe it down and scratch yoa grabble.
To Dixie Land I'm bound to trabble.
Look away, etc.

grabble = gravel acc. I. Lancashire, Dept. English, Univ. of Toronto)

Following verses substituted after "Missus married..." in 1860. Daniel D. Emmett, "Emmett's Inimitable Plantation Songs, Written and Composed for Bryant's Minstrels, of 470 Broadway, New York." (New York, Firth, Pond, 1860).

His face was as sharp as a butcher's cleaber;
But dat did not seem to greab her;
Look away, etc.
Ole missus acted de foolish part,
And died for a man dat broke her heart:
Look away, etc.

Now here's health to de next ole missus,
An' all the gals dat want to kiss us;
Look away, etc.
But if you want to drive 'way sorrow,
Come an' hear dis song tomorrow;
Look away, etc.

Dar's buckwheat cakes an' Injin batter,
Makes you fat or a little fatter;
Look away, etc.
Den hoe it down an' scratch your grabble,
To Dixie's Land I'm bound to trabble;
Look away, etc.

Ref.: Galbreath, Charles Burleigh, "Daniel Decatur Emmett: Author of 'Dixie'." Fred J. Heer, 1904, Columbus, OH.