When the horses walk to the starting gate for today's Kentucky Derby they will hear the sad melody of "My Old Kentucky Home." It is a song of longing and regret and therefore a curious choice to accompany the high exhilaration that exists just prior to post time. With lyrics like:
the day goes by like a shadow over heart
with sorrow where all was delight
the time has come when the people have to part
then my old kentucky home, good night
it seems more appropriate for a grave side service in a cold fall rain than the tremendous party that derby day has become. But it is Kentucky's state song and years ago some prominant Kentuckians wanted it played. That Kentucky's song is mournful and elegiac comes as no surprise, what with its poverty and ignorance, its coal mines and coal miners' daughters. In fact, Kentucky's last smart decision was in maintaining an alliance, despite its star in the confederate flag, with the United States during the Civil War. But I digress. Suffice it to say - the state of Kentucky is sad, the Kentucky Derby is happy. And so I propose a change. Instead of reveling in the backward glances of My Old Kentucky Home, let's revel in the revelry of the day. Instead of My Old Kentucky Home let's hear another old-timey southern favorite - The Little Brown Jug whose lyrics include:
my wife and I lived all alone
in a little log hut we called our own
she loved gin and I loved rum
I tell you what-
we had some fun.
Now what mint julep fueled fan won't love that?
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