Composition
Written for performance by the New York blackface troupe Christy's Minstrels, the song has E. P. Christy, the troupe's leader, appearing as its creator on early printings of the sheet music. Christy had paid Foster to be credited, something Foster himself had suggested though later regretted.
Foster had composed most of the lyrics but was trying to give a name to the river of the opening line and asked his brother to suggest one. The first suggestion was "Yazoo" (in Mississippi), which despite fitting the melody perfectly, Foster rejected. The second suggestion was "Pee Dee" (in South Carolina), to which Foster said, "Oh pshaw! I won't have that." His brother then consulted an atlas and called out "Suwannee!" Foster said "That's it exactly!" He wrote it in immediately (misspelling it "Swanee" to fit the melody).
Foster himself never saw the Suwannee or even visited Florida, but the popularity of the song initiated tourism to Florida to see the river and since 1935 it has been the official state song of Florida, although in 2008 the original lyrics were expurgated.
- Dvorak's Humoresque Number 7, written in the 1890s, is musically similar and is sometimes played along with "Old Folks at Home". The Library of Congress's National Jukebox presents a version with soprano Alma Gluck and violinist Efrem Zimbalist.
Read more about this topic: Old Folks At Home
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