Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The Rebs will cry again?

It has just been brought to my attention that the new chancellor at Ole Miss, Dan Jones, actually wants to change the Ole Miss song, "From Dixie With Love," to remove that last part where people chant, "The South will rise again." From the AP story:

"Dan Jones, who became Ole Miss chancellor in July, said he asked the school's band director, David Wilson, to modify the song to support the efforts of the Associated Student Body. He said he has received complaints from alumni that the slogan is offensive.

'The fact is, the phrase 'The South Will Rise Again' is not part of our tradition or spirit, and it is inconsistent with the university's values and what Ole Miss stands for — a great public university with a focus on the future,' Jones said in a phone interview Thursday from the campus in Oxford.

The modified version of the song ends abruptly before the chanting phase starts. It was first played Saturday at Ole Miss's homecoming game against the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but that didn't stop some fans from chanting.

OK, "Dan" - if that's even your real name - I don't know you, but I already don't like you. Here's the thing about being offended: You don't have a right not to be. When I was a student, From Dixie With Love was always one of my favorite parts of the games, and I'm a flaming liberal. For Christ's sake, my best friend is gay, my other best friend is queer (you can ask her yourself - it's an actual gender classification), I listen to the most politically incorrect music that exists and I spend most of my time swimming in a sea of artists, writers and other mushy artsy types. And I always loved hearing the Dixie song at the games, even though I always abstained from the chant because I thought it was ridiculous. Yeah, I guess I was offended, but it's interesting how a nice helping of whiskey helps to soften the sharp edge of the chant's offensiveness. Am I right, y'all? Let's not pretend to be something we're not.

But this is what really struck me, from the same AP story: Earlier this month, the Ole Miss student government passed a resolution suggesting the chant be replaced by the phrase, "To hell with LSU."

Lolz. I mean that is LOLX. Anyone who read my Hautey Toddy column knows how I feel about LSU. It's just so delightfully Ole Miss that they want to officially change the Dixie song to diss LSU at every single game. In the spirit of things, I feel inspired to come up with a few suggested chant replacements to represent what Ole Miss stands for, in Dan Jones' words. Here's a brief list.

We are so drunk right now!

Let's try to win this game!

We'll never win this game!

The Harvard of the South!

I wish I had more Scotch!

At least we'll party soon!

We love black people now!

And now, I want ideas from y'all. Let's celebrate the traditions and the spirit of Ole Miss. Go.

7 comments:

  1. i wholeheartedly, without shame or remorse, support the change to "To Hell with LSU."

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  2. Yeah this is the dumbest thing ever. They gonna take aim at "Ole Miss" as a nickname next? I think we should keep - and embrace - "The South Will Rise Again." We have risen in a good way, and I think the chant can be one of those super awesome ones that used to mean something bad but now it doesn't. Like "queer." It's like your "We love black people now!"

    Gotta admit, I say it. It's just so catchy, and the whole crowd is doing it. It's fun and it feels dirty.

    The LSU idea is absolute crap. ASB is a fucking joke. Why would we bother to mention an inferior team when they're not even in town? If students adopt that (since when does anyone listen to ASB?), it's a sad day for Ole Miss.

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  3. Jones has been put in a situation where he almost has to do this. The coaches believe the chant at the end of FDWL hurts recruiting and are also wanting the change. The band removed the last part a few weeks ago, but the students continued to chant a cappella.

    You can check out the DM web site (or what's left of it) for the letter Jones wrote to the students. He basically said the song will be taken away completely if the chant doesn't stop.

    I'm mixed with my thoughts, but if it comes down to losing that song, everybody just shut the hell up or chant something different.

    Chase

    P.S. Also, the ASB passed a resolution recommending that the "We are Ole Miss" cheer be removed from pregame. They sure have a lot of time on their hands.

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  4. Oh helllll no. They can't fucking get rid of the song altogether. There will be an uprising.

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  5. Hahaha you just got retweeted by @TheGodfreyShow. Go you!

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  6. We have Germans that play for our tennis team. Can we chant "Heil Hitler" when they take the court?

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  7. OK So I've sort of come around. One of my friends pointed out that the "again" really takes things over the top. If it was just the South will rise or has risen or something ... OK semi-legit. "Again" implies that the damn Northern opposition will get what was coming to them in 1856 or whenever that was. We should have something cute and catchy to end "From Dixie with Love" though.

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