This is a fun one…and one that hits close to home. Well, my grandparents home that is! They lived in Anniston, Alabama while I grew up in a suburb of Chicago. Whenever I hear this one I think of my tall, thin, gangly Grandad tickling us to make us laugh. This is a silly one, and if you listen while you sing you can hear the puns or ironic lyrics.
I utilized a Japanese ink, brush pen. One I bought in a hardware store in Kitakata where our daughter and son-in-law live. I LOVE that writing letters is so important to the Japanese culture that they sell great brush pens at the check-out counter of a hardware store. Where as we in the USA sell candy and tabloid magazines…not so sure I like what that says about us!
So channel your best Alabama accent and let’s git’ singin’!!!
I’ve come from Alabama with banjo on my knee
– Stephen Collins Foster 1864
I’m gone to Louisiana my true love for to see.
It’s rained all night the day I left
The weather it was dry.
The sun so hot I froze to death
Oh! Suzanna don’t you cry!
Oh, Suzanna! Oh! Don’t you cry for me.
I’ve come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee.
When we visited my grandparents, we drove through the night sleeping in the back of the family station wagon. No seat belts, a blanket across the back seat so the three of us could nap, and my Dad would drive all night. We would always magically stop at ‘The Knife and Fork’, a diner somewhere just across the Tennessee border. There we could eat, gas up and I’m sure so Dad could get more coffee. It was like magic…we went to sleep and the dirt was black and woke up and the dirt was reddish orange. That’s when we knew we were close to Alabama!
We were too young to sing on those road trips, yet if we could have I’m sure this tune would have been a family favorite. It’s silly, Southern and has a great tune. Just so you know, Stephen Collins Foster wrote over two hundred folk songs and many of his songs remained popular into the 21st century. I wonder if kids nowadays know this one? I hope they do!
Only a few more days left in this Inktober sing-a-long we have been traveling. Join me tomorrow and we will sing another fine tune!
