A new era, a new song

Sorry, Stephen Foster, but Old Folks at Home just might have a successor.

By DONG-PHUONG NGUYEN, Times Staff Writer
Published January 12, 2008

Will Geer, 15, a freshman at King High School in Tampa, performs an acoustic version of Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky) at the Tampa Convention Center on Friday with the school's choir, Pride, behind him. The choir also sang it. Audio: Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky
	[Carrie Pratt | Times]

ADVERTISEMENT [Carrie Pratt | Times] Jan Hinton, who wrote the song, shows off the plaque honoring her for winning the state song contest to Eddie John, a chorus teacher in Weston. Hinton is an elementary school teacher in Fort Lauderdale.

TAMPA -- When Jan Hinton heard about Florida's search for a new state song, images of the spiny sawgrass in the Everglades came to mind. And they stuck.

Using the sawgrass as her inspiration, Hinton, an elementary school music teacher in Fort Lauderdale, wrote a song describing Florida that proved to be a winner.

Hinton's song, Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky), was named the top vote-getter Friday of a contest to become the new state song, officials announced.

The song won't replace Florida's official ballad, Old Folks at Home, just yet. It still needs to be approved by the Legislature.

State Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, who is leading the effort to replace the song some consider racist and outdated, praised Hinton's song as touching.

"As a born and raised Floridian, that is a powerful song," he said.

Hinton's song was among 243 submissions. Two others -My Florida Home by Christopher Marshall of Orlando and Florida, My Home, by Carl Ashley of Boynton Beach and Betsy Dixon of Lantana -- were named as finalists.

Officials opened up voting on the Internet, with Hinton's song receiving more than half the 8,000 votes, said Carmen White, a spokeswoman for the Florida Music Educators' Association, which managed the contest and selected the finalists.

Hill presented Hinton with a plaque at the Tampa Convention Center during the music association's annual conference that brings together the top musical students from across the state.

"We wanted you to see the versatility of it," said James Perry, executive director of the Florida Music Educators' Association. "It can be sung in a number of ways."

The King High School's show choir, Pride, performed the song. Then 15-year-old Will Geer, a freshman at King, sang a folksy acoustic version with his guitar. He was followed by soloist Rosemary Collins, a music teacher at Safety Harbor Middle School, who turned it into a pop ballad.

Hinton, from Pompano Beach, sat in the audience and swelled with pride.

"I just felt honored," she said. "What a sense of satisfaction to hear it performed."

While Collins sung, Hinton thought back to her own recording and the fact that she is not a professional singer. She turned to her 13-year-old son Samuel and whispered: "That's how it should be sung."

Hinton, who has been writing songs since she was 7 and moved to the United States from England 12 years ago, said it took her about a week to complete the song. In it, she describes Florida as a place where mockingbirds cry and gators lie in the sun, where bridges span southward to the Keys and orange blossoms emit their sweet perfume

She said it helped that she is not a native Floridian.

"It made my feelings about Florida a little bit more intense," she said. "I really appreciate it."

The contest did not come without controversy. Some Florida natives want to keep the original song, saying it is a part of history.

After Gov. Charlie Crist snubbed Stephen C. Foster's song during his inauguration, Hill, who supported a new song bill 10 years ago, decided it was time to try again.

Hinton said she understands the desire to leave the state song as it is, but "I'd like to think (my song) is a reflection of what Florida is now."

She suggested: "Maybe we can have two state songs?"

Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky)
By Jan Hinton

Florida, where the sawgrass meets the sky,
Florida, where our hearts will ever lie,
Sitting proud in the ocean like a sentinel true,
Always shielding your own yet giving welcome.

Florida, land of flowers, land of light,
Florida, where our dreams can all take flight,
Whether youth's vibrant morning or the twilight of years,
There are treasures for all who venture here -- in Florida.

Mocking birds cry and 'gators lie out in the sun
Bridges span southward to the Keys
and rockets skyward run,
The orange blossoms' sweet perfume
and fireworks fill the air,
and cultures rich, our native people share.

Florida, where the sawgrass meets the sky,
Florida, where our hearts will ever lie,
Sitting proud in the ocean like a sentinel true,
Always shielding your own yet giving welcome.

Florida, land of flowers, land of light,
Florida, where our dreams can all take flight,
Whether youth's vibrant morning or the twilight of years,
There are treasures for all who venture here in Florida, Florida.

[Last modified January 12, 2008, 01:15:10]