Dixie has been requested by Jordan S. It became the anthem of the southern states during the American Civil War, but as the following article from Wikipedia explains, it originated some years earlier
"Dixie", also known as "I Wish I Was in Dixie", "Dixie's Land", and other titles, is a popular American song. It is one of the most distinctively American musical products of the 19th century, and probably the best-known song to have come out of blackface minstrelsy. Although not a folk song at its creation, "Dixie" has since entered the American folk vernacular. The song likely cemented the word "Dixie" in the American vocabulary as a synonym for the Southern United States.
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. 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. The latest challenge has come on behalf of the Snowden Family of Knox County, Ohio, who may have collaborated with Emmett to write "Dixie".
The song originated in the blackface minstrel shows of the 1850s and quickly grew famous across the United States. 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. During the American Civil War, "Dixie" was adopted as a de facto anthem of the Confederacy. New versions appeared at this time that more explicitly tied the song to the events of the Civil War. 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. Today, "Dixie" is sometimes considered offensive, and its critics link the act of singing it to sympathy for the concept of slavery in the American South. 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. The song was a favorite of President Abraham Lincoln- he had it played at some of his political rallies and at the announcement of General Robert E. Lee's surrender.
Here then is my interpretation of this historical song which is in no way meant to be offensive. :
Dixie
Daniel Decatur Emmett of Mount Vernon, Ohio
Capo at 5th fret
C F
Oh, I wish I was in the land of cotton, cinnamon seed and sandy bottom,
C Am G C
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land.
F
In Dixie Land, where I was born in early on one frosty mornin',
C Am G C
Look away, look away, look away Dixie Land.
C Am G
I wish I was in Dixie, Hooray! Hooray!
C F C G
In Dixie Land I'll take my stand to live and die in Dixie.
C G C Am G C
Away, away, away down south in Dixie.
G C Am G C
Away, away, away down south in Dixie
Ole Missus marry "Will the weaver" Willum was a gay deceiver
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land
But when he put his arm around 'er, he smiled fierce as a forty pounder,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land
His face was sharp as a butcher's cleaver but that did not seem to grieve 'er
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land
Ole Missus acted the foolish part and died for a man that broke her heart
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land
Now here's a health to the next ole Missus an' all the gals that want to kiss us;
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land
But if you want to drive 'way sorrow come and hear this song tomorrow
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land
There's buckwheat cakes and Injun batter, makes you fat or a little fatter
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land
Then hoe it down and scratch your gravel, to Dixie's Land I'm bound to travel,
Look away! Look away! Look away! Dixie Land
