Carry Me Back To Old Virginny

Album: Songs of the South (1878)
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  • Original lyrics:

    Carry me back to old Virginia
    There's where the cotton and corn and taters grow
    There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime
    There's where this old darkey's heart am long'd to go
    There's where I labor'd 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 Virginia the State where I was born

    Carry me back to old Virginia
    There's where the cotton and corn and taters 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 Virginia
    There let me live 'till I wither and decay
    Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wander'd
    There's where this old darkey's life will pass away
    Massa and Missis have long gone before me
    Soon will we 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


    Modified lyrics:

    Carry me back to old Virginia
    There's where the cotton and corn and taters grow
    There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime
    There's where this old dreamer's heart am long'd to go
    There's where I labor'd so hard for my loved ones
    Day after day in the field of yellow corn
    No place on earth do I love more sincerely
    Than old Virginia the State where I was born

    Carry me back to old Virginia
    There's where the cotton and corn and taters grow
    There's where the birds warble sweet in the springtime
    There's where this old darkey's dreamer's heart am long'd to go

    Carry me back to old Virginia
    There let me live 'till I wither and decay
    Long by the old Dismal Swamp have I wander'd
    There's where this old dreamer's life will pass away
    Mama and Papa have long gone before me
    Soon will we 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



    Ray Charles version:

    Carry me back to old Virginny
    There's where the cotton and the corn and taters grow
    There's where the birds warble sweet in the spring time
    There's where this old life of mine
    Will pass away

    Carry me back to old Virginny
    There let me live 'til I wither and decay
    Long by the old dismal swamp
    Have I known this life of mine
    Will pass away

    My mother and father
    Have long gone before me
    Soon we will meet on that bright and golden shore
    We will be happy now and free from all sorrow
    There's where this life of mine
    Will pass away Lyrics from a song in Public Domain

Comments: 2

  • Andrew from Arlington VaCorrection: In 2015 Virginia chose as its "traditional" state song "Our Great Virginia." The "popular" state song is “Sweet Virginia Breeze.”
  • Andrew from Arlington VaIn various slightly different forms, this was Virginia's official state song from 1940 to 1997 when due to its racist content it was designated the "state song emeritus." As of 2019, Virginia has not chosen a new song.

    For Governor Wilder, attempting to dethrone the song was very personal. As NPR related, "In 1969, Douglas Wilder became the first African-American elected to Virginia's Senate since Reconstruction. After his election, Wilder went to a dinner where lawmakers broke out in the state song, an old minstrel song called "Carry Me Back To Old Virginny." In a 2015 interview, Wilder described fleeing the event in shock. DOUGLAS WILDER: So I drove around the city about 45 minutes that night because I just couldn't get myself together. And I said, this is the state song of Virginia? I can't believe it."
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