Carry Me back to Old Virginny
Written by James Allen Bland
Virginia State Song Emeritus
a new State Song.....
Carry me back to old Virginny
There's where the cotton and the corn and tatoes grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where the old darke'ys heart am long'd to go,
There's where I labored so hard for old massa,
Day after day in the field of yellow corn,
No place on earth do I love more sincerely
Than old Virginny, the state where I was born.
CHORUS
Carry me back to old Virginny,There's where the cotton and the corn and tatoes grow,
There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime,
There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go.
Carry me back to old Virginny,
There let me live 'till I wither and decay,
Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wandered,
There's where this old darke'ys life will pass
away.
Massa and missis have long gone before me,
Soon we will meet on that bright and golden
shore,
There we'll be happy and free from all sorrow,
There's where we'll meet and we'll never part no
more.
###
James Allen Bland
James
Bland was born in 1854. He was a Black entertainer and composer, born in
Flushing, New York.
He was one of the best-known Black composers for the theatrical
entertainment called the minstrel show.
Bland was educated in Washington, D. C., where he graduated from
Howard University in 1873. He went on to become a performer in minstrel
shows, achieving his greatest success in Britain between 1882 and 1901.
James Bland composed more than 700 songs, mostly for minstrel shows,
among them "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny," chosen in 1940 as the state
song of Virginia, "In the Evening by the Moonlight," and "Oh, Dem Golden
Slippers." He spent the latter years of his life in poverty and
obscurity, and died in 1911 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.*
*Source:
The African
American Registry
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Commonwealth of Virginia
During the 2006 session of the Assembly for a time it appeared that the American classic Shenandoah would emerge as the "Interim State Song", but the effort sponsored by Senator Colgan while passing the Senate failed in a House committee.
In the late 1990's the General Assembly established a joint committee under the leadership of Senator Hanger to select a new state song. After hundreds of songs were reviewed the committee narrowed the list down to 8 songs which were named as Grand Finalists and includes our choice to be the next State Song.
We strongly support Virginia
by Lynn Klotz Rinker and we encourage you to visit
her website and
listen to a performance of her song by the University of Virginia Glee
Club. Better yet go to her website, download the sheet music and sing
this Virginia anthem.
|
Virginia you are my homeland ### |