
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 13, 1994                   TAG: 9402150267
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LYRICS REVISITED

OVER THE past 34 years, Virginia lawmakers haven't spent quite as much time trying to rewrite the lyrics of the state song as they have trying to write good laws. But almost.

The song, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia" (nee Virginny) is a classic. Written 119 years ago by James Bland, an acclaimed black musician of that day, it rightfully holds a place in many Virginians' hearts. But some of its lyrics, clearly not considered racist when written, offend many blacks and others today.

The song is virtually never sung - well, maybe in the shower but certainly not in public. It hasn't been sung since the state's first black senator, one Douglas Wilder of Richmond, rose to his feet to blast it in his maiden address to the Senate in 1970.

Now Shawsville Sen. Madison Marye, with fine and sentimental intentions, suggests the song might be proudly sung again if only it could be made more politically correct. He has introduced a bill - passed overwhelmingly by the Senate - to banish offensive references to "old darkey's heart" and "old Massa" and replace them with socially acceptable "old dreamer's heart" and "my loved ones."

Not to disparage Marye's talents for creative revisionism (in fact, he did a pretty creditable job). But Paul McCartney could pen new lyrics and the three surviving Beatles could include Old Virginny in their long-awaited reunion recording, and it still would never make the charts.

The song - not just the lyrics, but the song - will always unpleasantly remind some of a period in Virginia's history that can't be revised, amended or sanitized away.

What's wrong with this song? Nothing. It will always be a classic tune, a stirring reflection of an earlier day, and deserves to be celebrated as such.

It just shouldn't be the state song.

Having tried umpteen times to improve on Bland, lawmakers should abandon the muse. Sing along with Madison on this bill no longer. Let the lyrics be. There's as little point in rewriting them as there would be in converting "Guys and Dolls" into "Guys and Women."

The only action lawmakers should take regarding "Carry Me Back" is to repeal the 1940 law that gave it official "state song" status. Which, incidentally, is what former Gov. Wilder recommended in 1970.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

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