Uncle Tom's Crabbin'

Did he or didn't he? When U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo stopped by the South Carolina State Museum on a swing through that state earlier this month, he delivered his standard immigration speech from a podium draped with the Confederate flag. And then, as he exited the room, some members of the audience started singing "Dixie." So did Colorado's controversial congressman really join in?

"Yes and no," says Carlos Espinosa, Tancredo's recently returned spokesman. "It was kind of in between. He was singing it as he was waving." And not so much singing as faking the chorus, since the unofficial anthem of the Confederacy isn't exactly a pick hit for second-generation Italians growing up in northwest Denver.

Some advice for Tancredo the next time he finds himself in such a spot: Run. Or pull out these custom lyrics:

I wish I was back down on the border
Flag-waving there is quite in order
Run away, run away, run away, Dixie land. In Dixie land where I was talkin'
Early on I shoulda been walkin'
Run away, run away, run away from Dixie land.

Chorus

I'm all about the U.S. Hooray! Olé!
Keep borders tight, that is my fight
I won't live and die by Dixie,
Away, away, away down south from Dixie,
Away, I say, I shot off my mouth in Dixie! I wish the media weren't so rotten
And one pol's gaffes were soon forgotten
What the hey? Another day. Get away, from Dixie land. In Dixie land where I was stumpin'
Once again I stirred up somethin'
There's hell to pay when you've lots to say,
This ain't the way, Dixie land. Chorus I'm all about the U.S. Hooray! Ole!
Keep borders tight, that is my fight
I won't live and die by Dixie,
Away, away, away down south from Dixie,
Away, away, I've hushed my mouth on Dixie!