RafaThere’s a new Florida state song!

April 24, 2008 | Posted by: Rafa | Filed In: Florida, Music

I bet you didn’t even know there was an old Florida state song; shows what a Floridian you are. Well there was, and it kicked ass. The only problem is that it was a bit offensive; in particular a line about “darkies” in the chorus. It’s called Old Folks at Home. Here it is being sung by the beautiful Rosa Ponselle.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “how could they replace such a kick-ass song? Nothing can compare!,” but the truth is the song has its flaws. For one, the already mentioned offensiveness. Then there’s the guy who wrote the song, Stephen Foster. He wasn’t even from Florida, and he didn’t write the song for or about Florida. He chose one lyric (”Way down upon the Swanee river”) about Florida because it sounded right, and that’s it.

Now we have the new song. This song is actually written by Jan Hinton, a Pompano Beach music teacher. The song is written for and about Florida, and after listening to it only once, it already held a special place in my heart, as I’m sure it will yours too. It’s called (wait for it): Florida.

Now you know what to sing if you’re feeling like a proud Floridian. If for any reason you’re feeling like a proud Floridian and a proud Key Rat, you can always sing Florida, and then follow that with the KBES school song. Sorry, there’s no YouTube video for that one (yet!).




7 Comments »

  1. key biscayne our school on the island blue… key biscayne its only for rats like youuu. la lala la la laalal lalaa dont remember the words can i get a cue??

    Comment by Bobby — April 24, 2008 #

  2. I don’t remember all of them, but it starts like this:

    Key Biscayne, our school on the island fair
    Key Biscayne, for you we shall always care

    (Something) on parade
    make me feel so proud
    (something something something)
    want to shout it out loud

    If I travel around the world
    Far away from the Key
    Still my memory will hold dear

    The island schooooooooool
    By the blue blue sea

    The island schooooooooool
    byyyyyy theeeeeee seeeeaaaaaaaa

    Something like that. The whole section with the “make me feel so proud” might be said twice.

    Anyone know?

    Comment by Rafa — April 25, 2008 #

  3. Dannys mom wrote it, someone holler at her.

    Comment by Bobby — April 25, 2008 #

  4. I wonder if the jits at the school today know anything about the song…

    Comment by GK — April 25, 2008 #

  5. Here’s the school song, you got it mostly right:
    Key Biscayne, our school on the island fair
    Key Biscayne, for you we shall always care.
    Blue and golden shades, colors on parades,
    Make me feel so proud, wanna shout out loud
    Colors on parades, make me feel so proud
    I wanna shout it out loud.
    If I traveled around the world,
    Far away from our Key
    Still my memory will hold dear
    The island school by the blue blue sea.
    The isalnd school, by the sea.

    Anyways, the new Florida song’s ok I guess, it could be much worse. I do like the part about the gators in the sun. But I like Swanee River, because it’s a real song, and I really like the lyrics to it. We learned about that song in 4th grade, and I always liked it. I understand why they changed it, but I still really like it.

    Comment by rachel — April 25, 2008 #

  6. that new song blows… keep the old one, except for maybe the darkie reference… which can be easily switched for spic or mexican or cuban… anyone will work…

    Comment by Piccardo — April 25, 2008 #

  7. GTA IV!!!

    Comment by Nico — April 29, 2008 #

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