Group Opens Search For New State Song

By JEROME R. STOCKFISCH The Tampa Tribune

Published: Mar 30, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The soulful voice of local blues legend Charles Atkins echoed through the Capitol rotunda Thursday, as a group of music educators and lawmakers announced a search for a new state song.

Atkins' a cappella performance of his "Florida's Song" boasted of the sun, the sea, flowers and rolling rivers. It was a sharp contrast to the song listed on the rotunda's marble wall as the state's anthem - "Old Folks At Home," an 1851 minstrel song narrated by a plantation slave and also known by its opening line, "Way Down Upon The Swanee River."

"We look forward to the day we hear a new song in the state of Florida that will reflect the diversity and the values of the state," said state Sen. Anthony Hill, D-Jacksonville.

Hill, state Rep. Ed Homan, R-Tampa, and members of the Florida Music Educators' Association announced a public search for a new state song, a wide-open solicitation from amateurs, professionals and schoolchildren.

They plan to make the process democratic, by allowing Floridians to vote or rank songs on www.justsingflorida .com, a Web site that will be operational by May 15. A panel appointed by the association is developing a system to determine how the submissions will be scored and how a selection will be made.

Many consider the Stephen Foster-penned "Old Folks," with its reference to "darkeys" and longing for plantation life, to be racist.

"We feel that the current state song, 'Old Folks At Home,' should be retired into Florida's museums and history books as a significant piece of our state's past," Hill said. A new song "should promote the unity and respect and inclusion of all our state's diverse citizens."

Cindy Balistreri, president of the music educators' association, said the effort will be known as "Just Sing, Florida!" - a takeoff on former Gov. Jeb Bush's literacy program "Just Read, Florida!" Submissions will be accepted via the Web site after May 15.

Balistreri, a fine arts program specialist for the Sarasota school district, said the board of the Florida Music Educators' Association will manage and coordinate the song entry procedure, but members had not yet determined how the search would be judged.

Hill said he already has received eight or nine CDs with songs appropriate as the state song, and Homan said he already has a favorite: "Orange Blossom Song," an old song with new lyrics penned by a Temple Terrace Elementary School music teacher.

Atkins' "Florida's Song" will undoubtedly be in the running; he was invited to perform it at the inauguration of Gov. Charlie Crist, and he dropped by Thursday's news conference outside the Senate chamber to belt out a verse. Atkins, 62, is a native Floridian and a graduate of the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. He teaches and runs a blues lab at Florida State University.

Adorning an easel flanking the dais were the CDs "Florida" by Paul Miller and "Sunshine State of Mind" by Ron Johnson and Mary Mathews, the sheet music of songwriter Bert McCree's "The Florida Dimension" and lyric sheets from "Orange Blossom Song" and "Florida's Song."

Hill said he intends to have the winner written into state statute as the official state song. "Old Folks" was chosen by concurrent resolutions of the House and Senate in 1935, but was never placed into state law.

Crist did not want "Old Folks" played at his inauguration and favors a different state song.

"I think a new one would be nice," he said. He credited Hill for "working very hard to open up the process so a lot of people will have an opportunity to have input into what the new state song may be."

Reporter Gretchen Parker contributed to this report. Reporter Jerome R. Stockfisch can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or jstockfisch@tampatrib.com.