Stephen Collins Foster - Live Oak, FL
N 30° 17.730 W 082° 59.096
17R E 309108 N 3353198
A memorial to songwriter and poet Stephen Collins Foster is located on the Suwannee County Courthouse grounds in Live Oak, Florida, USA.
Waymark Code: WMBN5E
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 06/05/2011
Views: 7
The memorial consists of a granite dais with a bronze plaque on top. The plaque reads:
To Honor
Stephen Collins Foster
1826-1864
Creator of the American Folk Song
Singer of the Simple Joys of Home and Family
and
Poet Who Immortalized
The Suwannee River
This Memorial was Placed in 1949
by
The Woodmen of the World of Florida
Stephen Foster wrote the song "Old Folks at Home", which is best known by the words of its first line "Way Down Upon the Swanee River." This is of import to the people of Suwannee County because the county was named after the Suwannee River.
"Although this song may sometimes be performed with "modern" lyrics that some claim to be more racially sensitive, the song's original lyrics, included here, had been adopted officially as the lyrics of Florida's state song. In 2008, the Florida Legislature adopted a version of the lyrics that has been revised by the Center for American Music at the University of Pittsburgh.
1st verse
Way down upon de Swanee ribber (river)
Far, far away,
Dere's wha my heart is turning ebber,
Dere's wha de old folks stay.
All up and down de whole creation
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for de old plantation
And for de old folks at home.
Chorus
All de world am sad and dreary,
Ebry where I roam,
Oh! darkies how my heart grows weary,
Far from de old folks at home.
2nd verse
All round de little farm I wandered
When I was young,
Den many happy days I squandered,
Many de songs I sung.
When I was playing wid my brudder
Happy was I
Oh! take me to my kind old mudder,
Dere let me live and die.
Chorus
3rd verse
One little hut amond de bushes,
One dat I love,
Still sadly to my mem'ry rushes,
No matter where I rove
When will I see de bees a humming
All round de comb?
When will I hear de banjo tumming
Down in my good old home?"
-- Source