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Carry Me Back: Nostalgia for the Old South in Nineteenth-Century Popular Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2009

Lee Glazer  and
Susan Key
Lee Glazer
Affiliation:
Lee Glazer is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A.,
Susan Key
Affiliation:
Susan Key is Lecturer in the Department of Music, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, U.S.A.
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Extract

Nostalgia for an idyllic antebellum South permeated both cultivated and vernacular arts in post-Reconstruction America. Bock's popular mode, along with his fictional persona and artificial dialect, contrasts with Bagby's high-minded autobiographical voice, but both the Northern purveyor of popular ballads and the Southern man of letters look back longingly to the same idealized past. While it is not surprising that writings of the fallen Southern aristocracy should resonate with nostalgia, the nostalgic voices of Northerners pretending to be former slaves are less comprehensible. Yet both men's memories of the Old South proved marketable.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of American Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , April 1996 , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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References

List of Songs Cited

Adams, Gus. “My Home on Old Virginny Shore” (New York: Wm. A. Pond & Co., 1881).Google Scholar
Allen, and Wheat, . “Ole Times Cum Agin No Mo, or The Virginia Darkey's Lament” (Richmond: Manly B. Ramos & Co., 1889).Google Scholar
Bland, James. “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” (Boston: Oliver Ditson Co., 1875).Google Scholar
Buck, Francis. “Take Me Back to Old Virginny” (Baltimore: F. D. Benteen, 1848).Google Scholar
Deems, J. M. “Land of the South” (Baltimore: F. D. Benteen & Co., 1852). Words by Beekman.Google Scholar
Foster, Stephen. “Old Uncle Ned” (Louisville: W. C. Peters & Co., 1847).Google Scholar
Foster, Stephen. “Nelly Was A Lady” (New York: Firth, Pond & Co., 1849).Google Scholar
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Foster, Stephen. “My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night” (New York: Firth, Pond & Co., 1853).Google Scholar
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Raymond, Eugene. “Dear Land of the South” (Baltimore: Henry McCaffrey, 1860).Google Scholar
White, Charles T. “De Floating Scow” (1847). Also published as “Carry Me Back to Old Virginia,” (New York: Jacques & Brother) “Oh, Carry Me Back, or the Floating Scow of Old Virginny” (Boston: Oliver Ditson) and “De floating scow of Old Virginia” (Philadelphia: Lee & Walker). Republished by W. A. Evans & Bro., Boston, 1881.Google Scholar