| "My Old Kentucky Home" (originally titled "Poor Uncle Tom, Good Night!", and sometimes also titled "My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!") is the state song of Kentucky. It was published by Stephen Foster in 1853 and was adopted by the Kentucky General Assembly as the official state song on March 19, 1928. The song describes a scene of life on a slave plantation. The abolitionist Frederick Douglass saw the song as sympathetic to slaves. In 1986, the Kentucky General Assembly adopted a version unlikely to cause offence in which the original word "darkies" was changed to "people." |
"My Old Kentucky Home" by Paul Robeson Lyrics The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home 'Tis summer, the people 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 meadow, the hill and the shore, They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon, On the bench by that 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 people have to part, Then my old Kentucky home, good night! (repeat chorus) The head must bow and the back will have to bend, Wherever the people may go; A few more days and the trouble all will end In the field where sugar-canes may 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! (repeat chorus) |
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