"Johnny Roach" is an American song written by blackface minstrel composer Dan Emmett. The song was first published in 1859. The lyrics tell of a slave who has escaped to the Northern United States. He laments his lost plantation house and realizes that he really belongs in the South:
To Canada old John was boundAll by de railroad underground;He's got no clothes—he's got no "tin"He wishes he was back agin [sic].
The song is notable for being the first printed reference to the South as “Dixie’s Land”:
Gib me de place called "Dixie's Land,"Wid hoe and shubble in my hand;Whar fiddles ring an' banjos play,I'll dance all night an' work all day.A portion of the chorus was repeated in "Dixie" with slight variation.
References
Johnny Roach Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA