This is probably Albany Beef, the Scots-Irish dance that Emmett refers to in a book on fife instruction. According to a musician named Oscar Coon, Bryant's Minstrels performed a jig to 'Dixie' called Beans of Albany. The song is a walkaround, which originally began with a few minstrels acting out the lyrics, only to be joined by the rest of the company (a dozen or so individuals for the Bryants).

Īs with other blackface material, performances of 'Dixie' were accompanied by dancing. The chorus follows portions of ' Johnny Roach', an Emmett piece from earlier in 1859. The second part is probably related to even older material, most likely Scottish folk songs. The first part of the song is anticipated by other Emmett compositions, including ' De Wild Goose-Nation' (1844), itself a derivative of ' Gumbo Chaff' (1830s) and ultimately an 18th-century English song called ' Bow Wow Wow'. File:Bryant's Minstrels walkaround 1.jpgĭetail from a playbill of the Bryant's Minstrels depicting the first part of a walkaround, dated 19 December 1859.Īccording to musicologist Hans Nathan, 'Dixie' resembles other material that Dan Emmett wrote for Bryant's Minstrels, and in writing it, the composer drew on a number of earlier works. The melody of the chorus emulates natural inflections of the voice (particularly on the word 'away'), and may account for some of the song's popularity. The melodic content consists primarily of arpeggiations of the tonic triad, firmly establishing the major tonality. 'Dixie' employs a single rhythmic motive (two sixteenth note pickups followed by a longer note), which is integrated into long, melodic phrases. Rhythmically, the music is 'characterized by a heavy, nonchalant, inelegant strut', and is in duple meter, which makes it suitable for both dancing and marching. The song was traditionally played at a slower tempo than most listeners are familiar with today. Traditionally, another eight measures of unaccompanied fiddle playing followed, coming to a partial close in the middle since 1936, this part has rarely been printed with the sheet music. As the song became widely popular, the audience likely joined the troupe in singing the chorus. As originally performed, a soloist or small group stepped forward and sang the verses, and the whole company answered at different times the repeated line 'look away' was probably one part sung in unison like this. 'Dixie' is structured into 32 measure groups of alternating verses and refrains, following an AABC pattern.

3.1 The origin of the term “Dixie” & “Dixieland”.

Its supporters, on the other hand, view it as a legitimate aspect of Southern culture and heritage and the campaigns against it as political correctness. Today, 'Dixie' is sometimes considered offensive, and its critics link the act of singing it to sympathy for the concept of slavery in the USA South. Since the advent of the North American Civil Rights Movement, many have identified the lyrics of the song with the iconography and ideology of the Old South. New versions appeared at this time that more explicitly tied the song to the events of the Civil War.

During the United States Civil War, 'Dixie' was adopted as a de facto anthem of the Confederacy. Its lyrics, written in a comic, exaggerated version of African American Vernacular English, tell the story of a freed black slave pining for the plantation of his birth. The song originated in the blackface minstrel shows of the 1850s and quickly grew famous across the United States. The latest challenge has come on behalf of the Snowden Family of Knox County, Ohio, who may have collaborated with Emmett to write 'Dixie'. Compounding the problem of definitively establishing the song's authorship are Emmett's own confused accounts of its writing, and his tardiness in registering the song's copyright.

Most sources credit Ohio-born Daniel Decatur Emmett with the song's composition however many other people have claimed to have composed 'Dixie', even during Emmett's lifetime. The song likely cemented the word ' Dixie' in the United States vocabulary as a synonym for the Southern United States. Although not a folk song at its creation, 'Dixie' has since entered the United States folk vernacular. It is one of the most distinctively United States musical products of the 19th century, and probably the best-known song to have come out of blackface minstrelsy. ' Dixie', also known as ' I Wish I Was in Dixie', ' Dixie's Land', and other titles, is a popular United States song.

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