I’m not American, and recently I’ve been searching for the names of songs from my childhood memory. Surprisingly, I realized that I knew a few songs like “Dixie” — perhaps from my piano lessons as a little child. There was a big influence from American missionaries in the history of my country (I’m from S Korea)

Now that I know the history behind a song like Dixie, I feel a little bit of chill.

Do most Americans know the tune “Dixie”? Or do only those who grew up in Southern states know it?

36 comments

  2. I can whistle the tune and know some of the lyrics (I grew up mostly in Virginia). However, I wouldn’t go around just whistling it; it’s deeply associated with the Confederacy during the Civil War.

  6. I know the phrase “whistlin’ dixie” and I’d probably recognize the song if I heard it, but I couldn’t reproduce it off the top of my head.

  8. Most people would probably recognize the tune as something that sounds familiar, but probably wouldn’t know the lyrics or even the name of the song. I know the first couple lines of the original version but that’s it.

  10. It’s obviously a bad song in the historical context but it’s super catchy and gets stuck in my head really easy

  11. Yes, most Americans will recognize it. I’m originally from NY and I know all the words (my father was into civil war history and had a computer game a loooonnnggg time ago that played all the Civil War songs).

  12. It’s pretty commonly known as a tune.

    If you don’t like the history of it then know that there is a union version where the words are changed to insult the secessionist, slave owning South.

  13. I would recognize the melody but I don’t know all the words, probably the same for most Americans. It’s not like we were ever forced to memorize the lyrics or anything but probably heard the song in movies growing up (Gen X here).

  14. It took me a few seconds of thinking – I briefly confused it with ‘Daisy’ – but remembering the phrase “whistling Dixie” immediately brought it to mind.

    About finding the song disturbing: there aren’t many aspects of culture that don’t have something nasty behind them if you look closely enough, far back enough. Better to just enjoy the melody.

  16. Most people recognize the melody. Maybe a few know first few lines. Most southerners really don’t care. It’s a catchy tune. Northerners (ShermanJerkers) seem obsessed with their own needlessly antagonistic version. Then in the next breath they tell southerners to let the war go.

  19. Great song. Was on of the most popular songs in the entire country until the turn of the 1900

  20. Is that the song that goes “way down in the land of cotton/ I smell you and you smell rotten?

  21. The tune, yes. There’s some debate on the words.

    🎵Aaaaaway down South in the land of traitors🎵

  22. I didn’t really know about it until I started researching the civil war a bit in preparation for a battlefield tour.

  23. I live in the south & know it… It was played for years as the background music on a commercial for a well known BBQ restaurant in the area I grew up in. It also played when you went to their website, but at some point through the years, that finally ceased…

  25. I wish I was in the land of cotton
    Old times there are not forgotten
    Look away, look away, look away
    Dixieland

    It was my wife’s high school fight song.

  28. I took a Civil War course in college and learned the words. But I feel the tune is known wether you grew up below VA or not

  29. A vast majority Americans would recognize it since it’s been a frequent tune in popular culture literally since the civil war.

  35. Literally the only lyric I remember is

    > I wish I was in the land of cotton,

    The music, on the other hand, is extremely recognizable.

    —-

    I remember more words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, however:

    > “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
    >
    > He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored…

    But then, when I was in elementary school we started class by singing from a hymnal that had a number of Civil War favorites.

    And of course the variations sung by school children, such as

    > “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school!
    >
    > We have tortured every Teacher! We have broken every rule!
    >
    > The fire bell’s been rung and the principle’s been hung!
    >
    > Our school is marching on!”

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