I have a read a lot of people expressing concern about Kentucky's state anthem, "My Old Kentucky Home." The original lyrics celebrate antebellum south- slaves and all. I have taught this aspect of the song to 8th graders and high-schoolers alike for years. My purpose was never to ruin the song for anyone. My teaching of the history of the song was always in the context of a history class. It might surprise you to know that despite years of teaching this song, I continue to stand for the song come Derby time and sing along. In order to understand why, I don't need to bring you into my history class, but my song studies class.
Yes, I invented a field I call song studies as part of my Masters Thesis over a decade ago. I believe this field should exist, and I have been fortunate enough to have taught it as a class on three occasions. My background as a songwriter really helped me teach this class, and I discovered that there was a lot of knowledge to be transmitted on the subject. Despite the ubiquity of songs in our culture, people seem to have some pretty mixed-up ideas about what a song is and what it can do. I could write a book on the subject, but for now I will simply say that a song is not its history.
I have opened every song studies class by listening to a version of the national anthem, which really illustrates this point. I typically pick Whitney Houston's performance, because she's an amazing singer, but also because nobody can sing it like her. If Whitney Houston is singing, you don't sing along. You listen. The students listen. Then we ask what a song is. Almost always they say, "words and music." That's the moment where they learn their first lesson: a song is a performance. Songs are not created by songwriters, they are created by performers.
Now if you have ever ready a Shakespeare play in an English class you may have thought you were reading a play, but you were actually reading a script. A play is performed on a stage. Songs don't live on a page, they live in performance. And if you have ever seen a performance of one of Shakespeare's plays, there's a good chance that they cut some of the scenes. In some cases, Shakespeare probably just wrote a scene for the purpose of giving his leads a chance to change costumes. Did I just ruin Shakespeare for you? Then you're not paying attention to the performance. The actors are the ones who will provide you with an understanding of the meaning of the play, and just because you saw Romeo and Juliet in high school, doesn't mean the current performance of Romeo and Juliet has the same meaning, because it's not the same performance.
But back to our national anthem. "The Star Spangled Banner" is based on a poem by Francis Scott Key, and there are four stanzas, but I've never heard a performance of the Key's poem in its entirety, though I know that it has happened. The full poem mentions slaves, which makes it historically accurate, but problematic if you want to get everyone singing along. Although, during the Civil War, Oliver Wendall Holmes Sr. added a fifth stanza, which may be worth singing:
When our land is illumined with Liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained, who our birthright have gained,
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.
But can you do that? Can you change the meaning of a song? Songs change meaning every time they are performed, and the most important meanings are the ones created by the performers and their audiences.
Did you know that "The Star Spangled Banner" was basically the melody of a Gentlemen's club theme song? Yeah, and it was a British club at that. And the people who put it to music knew that too. Of course, that's neither here nor there. Nobody who sings the song filled with patriotism does so imagining a bunch of 17th century Englishmen having a boozy good time.
I usually end my class by listening to Jimi Hendrix's performance of "The Star Spangled Banner." Since Hendrix didn't sing any words, was he paying a tribute to an English drinking song? Most people would agree that he wasn't. What does his performance mean? Is it a tribute to patriotism? I don't think so, but I'll let you make up your own mind.
Songs are not fixed in their meaning. They are not statues that need to be torn down. People change the words, and they change the gender, and they change the meaning. Van Morrison's "Brown-Eyed Girl" was originally going to be "Brown-Skinned Girl." That is a very different meaning. Does that mean you now have to like a song that you found to be overplayed by every wedding band? No! You can still dislike it (or like it) based on your direct experience of the song. If you don't, you're not listening. Some people have changed a single pronoun in a song, and in so doing have created a new song. Compare The Animals' version of "House of the Rising Sun" to Bob Dylan's version of the same song. The lyrics are slightly different, the performances are miles apart, and the meanings are in different time zones.
Now clearly the folks whose job it is to enshrine songs, decided it best to scrub "My Old Kentucky Home" of its racist lyrics, and just like "Brown-Eyed Girl" the song became something new. Otherwise, why change the lyrics? Speaking as a songwriter who has changed his own lyrics to make a better song, I for one am thrilled that I need never be beholden to my original idea, because, sometimes the original idea is horrible.
If it was truly necessary to understand the song's original meaning, than we would need to understand something of Stephen Foster's intent. It certainly wasn't about celebrating the South, which was something he knew nothing about having only been in the south once. His original intent was to write a song that would make money. He wanted to write a hit. And he did. You can hold that against him, if you like, but you'll have to stop listening to pop radio for the same reasons.
Yes, I've taught the past of "My Old Kentucky Home" for years, but that past isn't on my mind when I hear the song, and I hope I never have to listen to someone trying to perform an "authentic" version of the song. I can't tell you what the song means, and you can't either. But what's on my mind when I sing the song at a Derby party (the only time or place I have ever done so), I think of having a good time with friends. Or sometimes I think of singing it in grade school.
