Florida is musically speaking, a doubly lucky state. Not only do we have a State Song, we have a State Anthem. This says a lot about the depth of our musical talent, diversity of heritage, and general sense of accommodation.  Ours is a our semi-tropical environment; we live with a seasonal influx of tourists as well a variety of amphibious life forms. We accommodate. We learn. We adapt. We wait for the perfect opportunity. In this climate, words and melody lie right beneath the surface, like an alligator in the Ocklawaha. Or, more to the point, an alligator Way Down Upon the Suwannee River. That gator waits for its clarion call opportunity to get those creative juices flowing, bubble up and bite.

Blood began to stir in our legislature a while back with objections to the lyrics of our State Song, Stephen Foster’s Old Folks at Home. Many of our citizens didn’t know our State Song was Old Folks at Home. They thought it was “Way Down Upon the Swannee River.” They thought Old Folks at Home were, well, the old folks at home. Which is quite understandable as a significant percentage of our population is, well…old. As to the lyrics themselves, to quote from Wikipedia: Foster sought, in his own words, to “build up taste, instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some songs of that order.” A man’s reach should exceed his grasp. But the enlightenment of time has woefully rendered many of Foster’s lyrics, well, trashy and really offensive. Those particularly heinous phrases have been amended from the public record of the lyrics of our State Song, so for all sense and purposes they truly are Gone With the Wind. Still, the historicity and resonance of Mr. Foster’s ditty leaves many Floridians very uncomfortable.

I remember a newspaper survey asking, “What do you think Florida’s new song should be?” I found out later that the results showed the overwhelming, number one choice was Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville”.  The old folks at home seemed to really get a kick out of that - many of them retired here just because of that song. “Nibblin’ on sponge cake, watchin’ the sun bake all those tourists covered with oil.”

Seems we were at a State Song Stalemate, musically-speaking. So borrowing from the rich, modern American commercial exhortation of “Just Say No!” “Just Do It!” and “Just go shopping,” it was determined that we would have a song-writing contest: “Just Sing, Florida!”

There’s nothing a true Floridian likes better than a good fight, a good prize and a good song. Combine all three and you have the makings of a great contest.

Jan Hinton’s beautiful “Florida - Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky” won the new song contest, hands down. Not only does it lyrically salute my own personal Florida Favorites - gators, orange blossoms, mockingbirds and Native Americans - the melody soars and just sticks with you. Even little children can sing it. “Florida - Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky” is now officially the Florida State Anthem.

So, our Florida has a State Song and a State Anthem. You see, we accommodate. We learn. We adapt.

I was curious how all this would play out in the Forest. On one of our too-few visits to the Big Scrub of the Ocala National Forest,  I was soon to find out. As luck would have it, I also had my portable audio field recorder with me. On a delicious winter evening, under a moonlit live oak tree, my husband Drew, our friend Earl and me and Salt Springs Don were sitting enjoying, chatting about everything and nothing, as good friends do. I asked him what he thought about Florida’s new song contest. Out from nowhere Don pulled out a handmade guitar, pieced together from remnants of a lifetime of old guitars. It looked like a wooden patchwork quilt with cat gut. Then he pulled out a slide he’d made from a piece of aluminum boat trim. The gator was bubbling up and ready to bite.

When people get agitated, they sometimes write a letter, honk a horn or call their lawyer. In the Forest, however, the folks there jump in a cold spring, go hunting or fishing or like my friend Salt Springs Don, pick up a guitar…