Dear Old Southland

"Dear Old Southland" is a 1921 jazz standard. It was composed by Turner Layton, with lyrics by Henry Creamer.^[1] It uses basically the same melody as the song Deep River. Popular recordings in 1922 were by Paul Whiteman and by Vernon Dalhart.^[2] Jack Mills published sheet music for it.

Sheet music cover, 1921

Other recordings

• Louis Armstrong recorded the song on April 5, 1930, for Okeh Records (catalog No. 41454).^[3] Armstrong recorded the song again in 1956 for the album Satchmo: A Musical Autobiography.^[4]
• Duke Ellington and His Orchestra – December 4, 1933 for Victor Records (catalog No. 24501).^[5]
• Benny Goodman and His Orchestra – June 25, 1935 for Victor Records (catalog No. 25136).^[6]
• Paul Robeson – September 26, 1939 for Victor Records (catalog No. 26741).^[7]
• Sidney Bechet's Blue Note Quartet – March 27, 1940 for the Blue Note label (catalog No. 13).^[8]
• Al Hirt released a version on his 1963 album, Our Man in New Orleans.^[9]
• Allen Toussaint released his own arrangement of Dear Old Southland (credited under Raymond Bloch), as a duet between a dominant piano part and a lamenting trumpet part (played by Nickholas Payton), on his jazz album of 2009 The Bright Mississippi.^[10]

Lyrics

The lyrics of the 1921 version, which is out of copyright, are:

Chorus
Dear old Southland,
I hear you calling me.
And I long how I long to roam,
Back to my old Kentucky home.

Verse 1
Dear old Southland,
For you my heart is yearning,
And I long just to see once more,
The land I love the Swanee shore.

Verse 2
I want to stray the town I was born, my home town, my little home town.
I want to play in the cotton and corn, to feel it, I used to steal it.
I want to hear dear old mother each morn.
Saying 'go long', 'go long', 'go long, 'go long to school
I want to be where the levee is near the water, I love the water.
I want to see Mammy Jinny so dear, I love her, Because I oughta.
I want to hear pick a ninnies in tune,
Singing 'go long', 'go long', 'go long', 'go long yo' mule!

See also

• List of jazz standards