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Old Song Better Than New Contenders

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 22, 2007

Regarding "Which Song Strikes State's Chord?" (Nation/World, Dec. 12):

OK, so I went to the Web site to listen to and vote for the song destined to replace that little work of genius, "Old Folks at Home" as our official state song.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the three candidates which included:

1. A serviceable anthem with a clever "bridge" section, but an odd stress on the third syllable of "Flor-i-da;"

2. A very nice hymn, strongly reminiscent of our Anglo-American church tradition, and;

3. A rather decent art song that would be thoroughly at home in a pre-World War II British recital hall.

On the whole, not a bad effort from our crop of present-day Florida composers. I'm not really all that concerned that two of the three aren't native to America, one being English and the other a New Zealander.

After all, Frederick Delius lived near Jacksonville for a time, and we're glad to claim him as an important Florida composer, even though he was born in England and spent most of his life in France and Switzerland.

It's too bad, however, that the Florida Music Educators Association, which runs the justsingflorida.org Web site, couldn't have used this opportunity to educate the governor, Florida legislators and the public about the "father of American music," Stephen Foster, whose songs no less a music educator than Yehudi Menhuin compared to those of Franz Schubert.

For our state to cast aside such a musical legacy is a sad sign of these times when Americans can be compelled to reject their heritage, no matter how valuable, at the first sign of complaint, no matter how inconsequential. Maybe those with such complaints should look a bit closer at Foster's work and reputation before falsely labeling it as somehow racist and backward.

After all, it was W. C. Handy, the "Father of the Blues," who said of another state's official song, "I suspect that Stephen Foster owed something to this well, this mystery, this sorrow. 'My Old Kentucky Home' makes you think so, at any rate."

BARRY A. ZIMMERMAN

Lakeland

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