My Old Kentucky Home After the real Call to the Derby Post is blown, as the Kentucky Derby starters make their way from the paddock onto the track, the crowd in the grandstands rises as the University of Louisville band plays the official song of the state of Kentucky. Written by Stephen Foster in 1853, My Old Kentucky Home is a sentimental, yearning song that celebrates the gentility of Bluegrass country. So as the horses take the track on the first Saturday of May, and with a mint julep in hand, the entire state celebrates in song one of the most emotional moments in all of American sports. If you wake up on Derby Day, and the sky is cloudy, rest assured that by post time the clouds will dissipate, and that once again, at the moment that strikes the heaviest on every Kentuckians' heart, the sun will shine bright for the Kentucky Derby. The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home, 'Tis summer, the people are gay; The corn top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom, While the birds make music all the day. The young folks roll on the little cabin floor, All merry, all happy and bright; By'n by hard times comes a-knockin' at the door, Then my old Kentucky home, good-night! Weep no more, my lady! Oh weep no more today. We will sing one song for my old Kentucky home, For my old Kentucky home, far away. Call To The Derby Post will provide an audio file of My Old Kentucky Home when such a file becomes available. For now, just tune in to the race itself, or hang around until the end of University of Louisville basketball games and the same band will play it for you there.