"My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!" is an American ballad written by songwriter and composer Stephen Foster in the mid-1800s. It is used as the state song of Kentucky.[1][2][3] It was published in January 1853 by Firth, Pond & Co. based in New York.[4] The song was likely inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, as evidenced by the title of a sketch in Foster's sketchbook, "Poor Uncle Tom, Good-Night!"
Lyrics[]
The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
'Tis summer, the darkies are gay,
The corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom
While the birds make music all the day.
The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,
All merry, all happy and bright:
By'n by Hard Times comes a knocking at the door,
Then my old Kentucky Home, good night.
Chorus:
Weep no more, my lady, oh! weep no more today!
We will sing one song
For the old Kentucky Home,
For the old Kentucky Home, far away.
They hunt no more for the possum and the coon
On the meadow, the hill and the shore,
They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon,
On the bench by the old cabin door.
The day goes by like a shadow o'er the heart,
With sorrow where all was delight:
The time has come when the darkies have to part,
Then my old Kentucky Home, good-night!
Chorus
The head must bow and the back will have to bend,
Wherever the darkey may go:
A few more days, and the trouble all will end
In the field where the sugar-canes grow.
A few more days for to tote the weary load,
No matter 'twill never be light,
A few more days till we totter on the road,
Then my old Kentucky Home, good-night!
Chorus[4][5][6]
References[]
- ↑ Richard Jackson (1974). Stephen Foster song book: original sheet music of 40 songs. Courier Dover Press. p. 177.
- ↑ My old Kentucky home, good night
- ↑ Austin, William (1975, 1987 (2e)). Susannah Jeanie and the Old Folks at Home: Stephen Foster from his Time to Ours. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night!
- ↑ Aldrich, Mark. A Catalog of Folk Song Settings for Wind Band, p. 74 (Hal Leonard Corporation, 2004).
- ↑ Foster, Stephen. Stephen Foster Song Book: Original Sheet Music of 40 Songs, p. 67 (Courier Corporation, 1974).