Our song today goes all the way back to 1851! The minstrel song was written by the great Stephen Foster and was originally titled “Old Folks at Home.”
Swanee River has been the state song of Florida since 1935. Because some of the original lyrics had references to slavery (which was still legal in some states at the time), the lyrics were revised.
The song has been recorded more times than I could count (Randy over at Mostly Music Covers may actually know how many versions…) and appeared in many movies and television shows. One of my favorite appearances came in 1956 on The Honeymooners.
In the episode, “The $99,000 Answer,” Ed Norton has a strange habit that before he can play any song he always plays a few notes of “Old Folks at Home”/”Swanee River” to warm up. This happens many times and drives Ralph crazy! The first question for Ralph in the game show is “Who is the composer of Swanee River?” The first few notes, the same ones that Ed had played earlier, are played so that Ralph knows the song. With only a few seconds left, Ralph, recognizing the song, but panicking since he didn’t care much about it, says “Ed Norton?”
In honor of his 65th birthday, today’s song is Hugh Laurie’s recording of Swanee River. I once featured his song Let Them Talk on this blog and his version can be found on the same album.
I remember really being blown away by how talented a musician he is. His cover of Swanee River is a fun boogie boogie romp that never ceases to make me smile! He truly jams on this.
Happy birthday, Hugh!
As a bonus – here is Hugh performing it live for a special about the album:
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 