Sissieretta Jones sang many musical selections during her career, but none as often as Stephen Collins Foster’s folk song, “Swanee River,” actually titled “Old Folks at Home.” Foster wrote “Swanee River” (which came from the first line of the song, “Way down upon the Swanee River,”) in 1851 to be performed by Christy’s Minstrels.
The song, whose lyrics were written in “Negro dialect” became very popular. By 1854 over 130,000 copies of the song had been sold. In 1935 it became the official state song of Florida, the state where the Suwannee River is located. The 240-mile river in southeast Georgia and north Florida flows southwest into the Gulf of Mexico.
Sissieretta Jones, also known as the “Black Patti,” sang this song, perhaps performing it for the first time, at a luncheon concert in 1896 that she gave at the White House for President Benjamin Harrison and his guests. She added it to her concert repertoire thereafter, performing it hundreds of times. It became her signature song.
Many years later, Sissieretta wrote that “Negro folk songs” like “Swanee River,” run the “entire gamut of human emotions” and should be included in all school musical programs. She continued to sing songs like “Swanee River” and “My Old Kentucky Home” throughout her career.
For more information about Stephen Collins Foster, go to the Performing Arts Encyclopedia at the Library of Congress — http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200035701/default.html. To read more about the song “Old Folks at Home, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Folks_at_Home. To get a free copy of the sheet music, visit http://www.free-scores.com/download-sheet-music.php?pdf=5391.
Maureen D. Lee
4-2-12