[rally songs]
Although it seems a contradiction, our writer of plantation songs wrote many Union rally songs, as well. Ms. Linden was wholeheartedly against slavery, and as a result joined the antislavery Whigs. When the Republican Party formed in order to, in part, slow the spread of slavery, and Abraham Lincoln became its nominee in 1860, Ms. Linden became a staunch supporter. She also wrote an anti-confederacy song called "Song to Jeff Davis," (Blumhofer, 94-95) (the irony that this hearing is being held in a building dedicated to a Confederate Soldier is not lost on the Ministry)
The song, "Dixie," was originally called "Dixie's Land," and was written in 1859 by Daniel Decatur Emmet, present at that first Minstrel show mentioned earlier. The song was written for a Minstrel show, and was full of the offensive dialect. According to Silber, Mrs. John Wood introduced the song in this very city {New Orleans} in 1860, from whence it permeated the South and was quickly adopted as a Confederate call to arms. "Dixie's Land" was one of President Lincoln's favorite songs. {According to Eric Zorn, reporting for the Chicago Tribune}, he had it played in a sort of conquering hero fashion at the end of the Civil War, implying that the song had been appropriated by the Confederacy, and that he was reclaiming it. True, it was written in New York, by a Yankee, but it was the crudest of Minstrel Songs. This fact only bolsters the assertion that virtually everyone at the time of minstrelsy was tone deaf to the racism of that form of entertainment. There seems to be no indication that "Dixie" bore any particular stain by its association with minstrelsy. However, if President Lincoln was one of the "good ones," a supreme ally for the slaves, then what does that say about the political and social climate that produced this objectionable form of entertainment?
Here is the first line of the original song, sun without dialect: [wait for me to sing]
[Leonard sings:
"I wish I was in the land of cotton,
Old time there are not forgotten, Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land."]
Soon, other Confederates wrote parodies, aimed at dressing up the tune, shedding the Emmett dialect in favor of more civilized war parlance (Silber, 51).
One such parody was by Albert Pike... [wait for me to sing]
[Leonard sings:
"Southrons, hear your Country call you,
Up! less worse than death be fall you! To arms! To arms! To arms! in Dixie!"]
Another was by H.S. Staunton...[wait for me to sing]
[Leonard sings:
"Hear ye not the sounds of battle,
Sabres' clash and muskets' rattle? To arms! To arms! To arms! in Dixie!"]
Next, the Union followed suit. For example, one Northern parody mentions an animal that is very familiar to us here in Louisiana. [wait for me to sing]
[Leonard sings:
"Away down South in the land of traitors,
Rattlesnakes and alligators,
Right away, come away, right away, come away.
Where cotton's king and men are chattels,
Union boys will win the battles,
Right away, come away, right away, come away."]
In the end, there were probably as many Union Dixies as Confederate Dixies (Silber, 51). Our Ms. Linden wrote one, further showing where her loyalties lay in the Civil War, and all of her verses are to the left of your agenda. The Sacred Nine Singers will sing only one verse.
"Dixie for the Union"
[in the piano coda after this one verse of "Dixie for the Union," go ahead and set up the next song, as follows. Aya will continue on to the introduction for the next piece, so you don’t have to hurry:]
"There's a Sound among the Forest Trees" was used during the Civil War. The music was written by William Bradbury, who wrote the tunes to Christian favorites, such as "Jesus Loves Me," "Just As I Am," "He Leadeth Me," "Sweet Hour of Prayer," and "My Hope Is Built."
"There's a Sound among the Forest Trees"
Does her patriotism excuse her for her participation in minstrelsy? The Ministry thinks not. Way back in 2019, Kate Smith's famous rendition of "God Bless America," as Patriotic as Mom and Apple Pie, was banished from New York Yankees and Philadelphia Flyers sporting events, after it was discovered that Smith had recorded blackface songs.
The Ministry watches.
[the people: May it find virtue.]
Now go to “sacred songs.”