‘My Old Kentucky Home’ is a heartbreaking song of humanity | Opinion

This time of year, I always feel sad for the Preakness and the Belmont when I watch them. After all, “Maryland, My Maryland” (now discontinued) and “New York, New York” have to follow “My Old Kentucky Home,” which is melodically and lyrically superior. They are pretty weak tea after a smooth swallow of Stephen Foster’s musical whiskey.

Now, I’m sad at reading Linda Blackford’s opinion essay proposing an alternative, which is about fixing something that isn’t broken.

Blackford’s opinion hinges on a supposed need to make everyone feel good.

This is specious because most people already feel good about the song.

Sung at ball games, Derby parties, and other functions by hundreds of thousands, if not millions, every year, it’s an expression of pride in our commonwealth. The song’s meaning has evolved. The idea that we sing it in support or celebration of slavery is absurd.

The lyrics have already been changed to reflect political correctness. (Notice I didn’t say “bastardized”, even though that’s what I think. That’s a subject for another essay.)

My guess is, if someone suggested changing the word “gay” to “glad” in order to appeal to heterosexual notions, Blackford would object. I would, too.

Most people never sing, and don’t know, the song past the first verse. It elicits for them a longing for home and a sympathy, even an empathy, for slaves who also considered Kentucky home.

These verses are not demeaning; they are heartfelt and heartbreaking. The words speak of people who, despite adverse circumstances and oppression, managed to endure and eke out some semblance of happiness in a hard life, but must realize that such happiness cannot last.

It’s not a song that “celebrates slavery.” It’s mournful; an evocation of sorrow and the recognition that happiness, wherever and whenever found, is as fleeting as summer. Isn’t this true for all of us?

It’s not a martial, jingoistic tune, like the Maryland one, nor a braggadocious paean to a big city.

“My Old Kentucky Home” is not a white song or a black song. It’s a song of humanity.

Without passing any aesthetic judgment on the “alternative” proposed, let me ask: should we trash a song by America’s first great composer — a truly beautiful song — because a few people don’t like it? Should we ask everybody not to drink a mint julep because some folks have trouble with alcohol?

Ms. Blackford’s notion plays on the fetishization of slavery as a kind of weird shibboleth for contemporary society. It also is a manifestation of a phenomenon I call fake morality: the idea that we, today, are morally superior to our ancestors, and therefore have the right to not only judge them but to ignore and even trash what they did, ignoring the context in which they lived, all in service to helping us increase our self-esteem.

It’s a song of unity. Why urge a step that would divide and embitter the prideful populace of our commonwealth. based on a misreading of the song and a fake morality?

For the few who might truly be “feeling stuck and depressed” by “My Old Kentucky Home,” I suggest counseling.

To Blackford, Drake, and Sollee, I say, get off your high horse, sing along (or not, as you wish), and enjoy the Derby.

Jim Hanna, a native Kentuckian, teaches English at Georgetown College.