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Question: Was “Dixie” really Lincoln’s favorite song?

Answer:

Lincoln was not particularly musical, but when a band serenaded him in the White House at the end of the Civil War, he asked the musicians to play "Dixie" saying, "I have always thought 'Dixie' one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it…I now request the band to favor me with its performance." (April 10, 1865)