Showing posts with label Dixie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dixie. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 21, 2019

Carolina Evening Shade ...


“Southern nights
Have you ever felt a southern night?
Free as a breeze
Not to mention the trees
Whistling tunes that you know and love so
Southern nights
Just as good even when closed your eyes
I apologize to anyone who can truly say
That he’s found a better way

Southern skies
Have you ever noticed southern skies?
Its precious beauty lies just beyond the eye 
It goes running through the soul
Like the stories told of old

Old man
He and his dog that walk that old land
Every flower touched his cold hand
As he slowly walked by
Weeping willows would cry for joy
Joy

Feels so good it’s frightening
Wish I could
Stop this world from fighting
La-da-da-da-da, da-la-da-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da-da

Mystery
Like this and many others
In the trees
Blow in the night
In the southern skies

Southern nights
They feel so good it’s frightening
Wish I could
Stop this world from fighting
Da-da-da-da-da…”
      ~ “Southern Nights”
     ~ written & recorded by Allen Toussaint (1938-2015) from his 1975 album “Southern Nights,” and later recorded by American country music singer Glen Campbell (1936-2017). It was the first single released from Campbell’s 1977 album “Southern Nights” and reached number one on three separate U.S. charts.
  
The lyrics of “Southern Nights” were inspired by childhood memories Allen Toussaint had of visiting relatives in the Louisiana backwoods, which often entailed storytelling under star-filled nighttime skies. When Campbell heard Toussaint’s version, he immediately identified with the lyrics which reminded him of his own youth growing up on an Arkansas farm. In October 1976, Campbell recorded the song with slightly modified lyrics.

The light of the looming autumn sunset dances on a pine tree that provides some lovely evening shade on a beautiful late October evening in the Lowcountry of Beaufort County, South Carolina.

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Confederate Roses ...


“Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee,
Sounds of the rude world, heard in the day,
Lull’d by the moonlight have all passed away …”
       ~ “Beautiful Dreamer”
       ~parlor song by American songwriter
              Stephen Foster
            ~ 1826-1864
    ~published posthumously in March 1864
       ~ one of Foster’s most memorable ballads
              & best loved works
     ~ recorded by Bing Crosby in 1940
            & various other artists


 ~ Foster, known as “the father of American music,” was an American songwriter known primarily for his parlor music. He wrote more than 200 songs, including “Oh! Susanna,” “Hard Times Come Again No More,” “Camptown Races,” “Old Folks At Home” (“Swanee River”), “My Old Kentucky Home,” “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair” and “Beautiful Dreamer.” Many of his compositions remain popular today. He has been identified as “the most famous songwriter of the nineteenth century” and may be the most recognizable American composer in other countries. His compositions are sometimes referred to as “childhood songs” because they have been included in the music curriculum of early education. Most of his handwritten music manuscripts are lost, but editions issued by publishers of his day can be found in various collections.



The grace, beauty and memory of The Old South dreamily bloom in these beautiful pink and white Confederate Roses on an October afternoon in the Lowcountry of Beaufort County, South Carolina.

The Legend Of The Confederate Rose

Once the Confederate Rose was pure white. During the Civil War, a soldier was fatally wounded in battle. He fell upon the rose as he lay dying. During the course of the two days he took to die, he bled more and more on the flower, till at last bloom was covered with his blood. When he died, the flower died with him. Thereafter, the Confederate Rose (or Cotton Rose), opens white, and over the course of the two days the bloom lasts, they turn gradually from white to pink to almost red, when the flower finally falls from the bush.

The Confederate Rose or hibiscus mutablis is actually a Chinese import. Brought into English gardens in the 1600’s, it is said to have gained favor in the South due to its ease of cultivation during the hard financial times after the Civil War. The hibiscus mutablis is a member of the hibiscus family which includes both the tropical hibiscus and the hardier Rose of Sharon. It is considered a large bush or a small multi-stemmed tree. The plant roots easily from cuttings and grows vigorously during the summer. Once established it is drought resistant. The blooms appear in the fall.