There’s a new Florida state song!
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!).