[WARNING: This song contains antiquated racial stereotypes. It is presented here for historical and educational purposes only.]
(About Dear Old Dixie Land)
a 1919 popular song
words by Henry Creamer
music by Turner Layton
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by James Pitt-Payne:
Lyrics
1. You’ve heard songs about Hindustan and its mystic nights
You’ve heard songs about China’s oriental lights
Then again you’ve heard refrains on far off Singapore
But here’s one tune you never heard before
Refrain
I’ll sing you a song of the fields of cotton
I’ll sing you a song of the Swanee shore
I’ll sing you a song that won’t be forgotten
As long as banjos ring, darkies sing ’round that cabin door
I’ll sing you a song of my black-eye’d Susan
I’ll sing you a song of my home so grand
As sure as six and one are seven
This place is next to heaven
I’m singing a song about dear old Dixieland
2. I have read about Borneo and of gay Japan
I have read about Egypt and of Turkestan
I have seen on movie screen most ev’ry town on earth
But I love best the place that gave me birth
Sung here by Fred Feild: