Stars Fell on Alabama

"Stars Fell on Alabama" is the title of a 1934 jazz standard composed by Frank Perkins with lyrics by Mitchell Parish.

It is also the title of a 1934 book by Carl Carmer in which he recounts the time he spent traveling through Alabama in the late 1920s as a professor at the University of Alabama. The book was republished in 1985 and again in 2000 with a new introduction by Howell Raines (ISBN 0-8173-1072-X).

Sections of this book were adapted by Brad Vice in his short story "The Bear Bryant Funeral Train." His failure to acknowledge his debt to Carmer led the organizers of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction to revoke the prize he was given in 2004.

The titles of both works refer to a spectacular occurrence of the Leonid meteor shower that was observed in Alabama on November 12-13, 1833. As reported by the Florence "Gazette": " [There were] thousands of luminous bodies shooting across the firmament in every direction. There was little wind and not a trace of clouds, and the meteors succeeded each other in quick succession."

One of the earliest recordings was by the Guy Lombardo orchestra, with his brother Carmen doing a vocal. This version was recorded on August 27, 1934 and issued by Decca Records as catalog number 104.

The song was later performed by over 100 artists. Among them are: Lee Wiley, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong; Jack Teagarden; Jimmy Buffett; Billie Holiday; Anita O'Day; Dean Martin; Kay Starr; Frank Sinatra; Doris Day; Frankie Laine; Erroll Garner; Kate Smith; Mel Torme; Ricky Nelson; Stan Getz; Ben Webster; and Cannonball Adderley.

The Marching Southerners of Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama perform the tune at every home football game and exhibition. The song has become the unofficial anthem of both the Southerners, and Jacksonville State University.

In 2002, The phrase "Stars Fell on Alabama" was added to Alabama's license plates and the familiar "Heart of Dixie" text reduced to a very small size. (A 1951 law requires Alabama license plates to display the words "Heart of Dixie" "and" a conventionalized heart shape, the heart in addition to the words.)

References

* Hall, John. (Winter 2000) "The Night the Stars Fell." "Alabama Heritage Magazine" No. 55
* "Code of Alabama": Section 32-6-54 (1951) and 32-6-54.1 (1997). The amendment removes the requirement for special-purpose plates.