Walking down the street today, I heard the ice cream truck driving around my very white, very suburban, California neighborhood. The song that the little ice cream truck was playing was Dixie. The Southern anthem. Bizarre… really, really bizarre.
Many people are mildly aware of one version of the song which goes: “I wish I was in the land of cotton. Old times there are not forgotten. Look away, look away, look away, Dixieland.” But historians (which is my training) and radical Southerners (not me) are also aware of the Southern secessionist anthem version: Dixie To Arms! I found a version on YouTube, in case you’ve never heard it. Here’s the link:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPhq6StlV94]
So I have lots of questions. Can ice cream truck drivers put together their own playlists? Is the ice cream truck driver a radical Southerner? Does the ice cream truck driver even recognize the song? How does this song go over in the south? Is this really a good song for selling ice cream in San Diego? Just wondering.