You "Ain't" Just Whistlin' "Dixie:" the Song-- Part 1: A Yankee Wrote It

From the September 15, 2012, Waxahachie Texas Daily Light. "Spotlight on History: Two Famous songs of the Civil War" by David Hudgins.

"Dixie" was also titled "Dixie's Land," "Dixie Land" and "I Wish I Was In Dixie's Land." Daniel Emmett of Ohio wrote it and it was first sung in New York in 1859.

Emmett was a member of a minstrel stage show where white people performed in blackface. The owner of the show asked him to write an upbeat "walk-around" song for the show because the tunes they were using were getting old. At the end of the show, someone would come up on stage and start singing and try to get the audience to sing along.

The phrase "I wish I was in Dixie" was not a normal Southern statement. It was a Northern phrase used to describe the South.

Even to this day, no one is really sure exactly where Mr. Emmett's Dixie was (like Margaritaville or Kokomo).

More Dixie to Come. --Old Secesh