North Dakota

The official state song of North Dakota, North Dakota Hymn, is not a waltz.  There is an official state march, The Flickertail March, but there is no official state waltz.  There almost was an official state waltz. In February, 2011, the North Dakota state senate voted 32-14 that Dancing Dakota should not be the state waltz. Dancing Dakota was written by Mandan, North Dakota resident Chuck Suchy in 1989 to help celebrate North Dakota's centenial. Tom Isern, a well known plains historian based in Fargo, North Dakota and the blogger, Jim Fuglie, joined to lobby a series of politicians to make Dancing Dakota the state waltz.  You can read it about it here and here. The result was ND SB2194 making the proposal official.  It was that bill which was rejected.  Suchy is a well known North Dakota singer/songwriter - the best known, in fact. There are more than 50 YouTube videos of Suchy singing the songs he has written including Dancing Dakota.

Careful listeners will note that Suchy's lyrics never mention North Dakota - just Dakota, but it is clearly a waltz celebrating North Dakota.  Like North and South Carolina it is difficult sometimes to distinguish which state is being celebrated in a waltz. As we did with the Carolinas, ambiguous waltzes will be associated with both states in this blog.

Only one Dakota waltz was found which specifically mentions North Dakota in the lyrics and that is
North Dakota Waltz written by Dan Smith and performed by the Kansas City band, Riverrock, on the CD, Shuddup & Party, issued in 2011.   Riverrock is almost up there with the Rolling Stones in longevity - they were established in 1974 and still perform with three of the original band members. Dan Smith, the composer of North Dakota Waltz, is one of those original member of the band and performs percussion and vocals. He is a clever lyricist as a listen to the tune below will demonstrate.

The remaining waltzes are "Dakota" waltzes, not specific to North or South Dakota. The earliest Dakota waltz is Dacota Waltz, a piano piece composed in 1858 by Louis Wallis (1827-1905).  Dacota is an early alternate spelling of Dakota - the word itself comes from a regional Native American language and means something like allies or friends. The word came to describe the groups of Native Americans that lived in the northern Mississippi valley and their shared language. In 1858, your could have read about Dacota country referring to the general area part of which which became the Dakota territory in 1861 and from which the states of North and South Dakota were formed in 1889.
The earliest waltz celebrating the Dakotas is from 1858. You can find a copy of the original score in the wonderful Levy Sheet Music Collection of Johns Hopkins University.  A computer created version of the piece can be heard below.

The most recorded Dakota waltz appears to be a polka waltz written by Romy Gosz and first recorded by Gosz and his orchestra in October,1945 on Mercury (6002).  It has also been recorded by "Whoopee" John Wilfahrt, by Little Johnny and his orchestra, by Jerry Goetsch, by Ray Konkol, by Matt Hodek and the Dakota Dutchman, by Arleigh Benedict Baker and no doubt by others. But you can hear the original below.

Dan Zahn and Kate Moretti from Lake Zurich, Illinois perform together with some friends as Briar Road.  Their latest CD is titled East Dakota Waltz and does indeed include the song East Dakota Waltz which was written by Zahn.  The recorded performance is by Zahn and Moretti joined by Martin Brunkalla (a noted luthier as well as a fine fiddler) and bass player, Rusty Winchel. Its title gives it a right to be included here but, in reality, it is actually a waltz about Minnesota as explained in a personal communication from Dan Zahn. He tells the story behind the song this way.

As a folk singer/songwriter, I traveled to  perform  several concerts in the southwestern Minnesota, South Dakota area. I had the good fortune of staying with a family of farmers in Minnesota just a few miles from the S.D. state line before leaving for Sioux Falls. 

My host explained to me that the soil they farmed in his corner of MN was exactly the same as that of their neighbors to the west and that he and other farmers in his area  lovingly referred to their land as “East Dakota”.

That evening after dinner, while sitting in their living room, I picked out an original melody on my mandolin and my host and his wife stood up and began waltzing across the living room floor. I decided to name the tune, “The East Dakota Waltz” in honor of my new friends.

Take a listen to East Dakota Waltz below.

One which was missed and needs to be incorporated in this blog [8/8/19]

The most intriguing title for a Dakota waltz is The Mosquitoes of Dakota Waltz by Felix Villiet Vinatieri (1837-1891). Vinatieri's story is almost as intriguing. In 1873, he  joined Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer's 800 man army as chief musician.  He and his sixteen member band accompanied Custer to that famous "last stand" at the Battle of the Little Big Horn on June 26, 1876. He was spared because Custer ordered the musicians to stay on the supply boat on the nearby Powder River rather than join the battle.  Their role became to be medics instead of musicians as they helped treat the wounded brought back to the boat at the end of the battle.  The Mosquitoes of Dakota Waltz was written in June, 1874, so Custer no doubt heard and probably enjoyed the tune. It was written for a full band and the score still exists in the Vinatieri Archive at the National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota. No evidence was found that it has been recorded or even performed in recent times.

A search of the Internet Archive found the following copyrights. No evidence was found that any of these waltzes were performed or recorded.

Windy Dakota, waltz, 1936. Words and music to Sam Adelman
Back to Dakota, waltz, 1936. Words and music to Ben Adelman
On the farm in North Dakota; waltz, 1937. Words and music to Hertha McCombs
When the sun sets in Dakota; waltz, 1938. Words and music to Fern Marion [pseud. of M.F. Newcomb]
Dakota Waltz, 1945. Words and music to Lew Tobin
Dakota Waltz, 1949. Words to Charles Leonard Cleek and words to Werner Hugo Fack
The North Dakota Waltz, 1951. Words and music to Rosanna Gutterud Johnsrud
North Dakota Waltz, 1952. Music to Arthur Reinhold Niedan
North Dakota Waltz, 1953. Words and music to Ray Pfliger
Dakota Waltz, 1957. Words and music to Thelma Chappell
Dakota Waltz, 1959. Music and arrangement to Herbert Barfoot
Dakota Waltz, 1960. Words and music to Corbin A. Waldron
North Dakota Waltz, 1960. Words and music to Peter Clifford Petersen
The North Dakota Waltz, 1962. Music to Ken Raymond and arrangement to Larry Crownson
North Dakota Waltz, 1964. Words and music to Thelma Thompson

And, finally, a simplified score for Dancing Dakota. It is not possible to capture the magic of this song in written music. The song lends itself well to harmony and Suchy varies the melody a little, both rhythmically and harmonically, each time he sings it. But this score gives pleasure when played along with his singing. Try it.

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