diff --git a/src/ActorUtil.cpp b/src/ActorUtil.cpp
index 7a8f6bb8cc..a381ba32e1 100644
--- a/src/ActorUtil.cpp
+++ b/src/ActorUtil.cpp
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ bool ActorUtil::GetAttrPath( const XNode *pNode, const RString &sName, RString &
 apActorCommands ActorUtil::ParseActorCommands( const RString &sCommands, const RString &sName )
 {
 	Lua *L = LUA->Get();
-	LuaHelpers::ParseCommandList( L, sCommands, sName );
+	LuaHelpers::ParseCommandList( L, sCommands, sName, false );
 	LuaReference *pRet = new LuaReference;
 	pRet->SetFromStack( L );
 	LUA->Release( L );
diff --git a/src/Command.cpp b/src/Command.cpp
index 74ef49c8c4..a0332f037b 100644
--- a/src/Command.cpp
+++ b/src/Command.cpp
@@ -87,10 +87,13 @@ RString Commands::GetOriginalCommandString() const
 	return s;
 }
 
-void ParseCommands( const RString &sCommands, Commands &vCommandsOut )
+void ParseCommands( const RString &sCommands, Commands &vCommandsOut, bool bLegacy )
 {
 	vector<RString> vsCommands;
-	SplitWithQuotes( sCommands, ';', vsCommands, true );	// do ignore empty
+	if( bLegacy )
+		split( sCommands, ";", vsCommands, true );
+	else
+		SplitWithQuotes( sCommands, ';', vsCommands, true );	// do ignore empty
 	vCommandsOut.v.resize( vsCommands.size() );
 
 	for( unsigned i=0; i<vsCommands.size(); i++ )
@@ -103,7 +106,7 @@ void ParseCommands( const RString &sCommands, Commands &vCommandsOut )
 Commands ParseCommands( const RString &sCommands )
 {
 	Commands vCommands;
-	ParseCommands( sCommands, vCommands );
+	ParseCommands( sCommands, vCommands, false );
 	return vCommands;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/Command.h b/src/Command.h
index 71adceb282..94fdcfc242 100644
--- a/src/Command.h
+++ b/src/Command.h
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public:
 // string. sCommand list is a list of commands separated by ';'.
 // TODO: This is expensive to do during the game.  Eventually,  move all calls to
 // ParseCommands to happen during load, then execute from the parsed Command structures.
-void ParseCommands( const RString &sCmds, Commands &vCmdsOut );
+void ParseCommands( const RString &sCmds, Commands &vCmdsOut, bool bLegacy );
 Commands ParseCommands( const RString &sCmds );
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/LuaManager.cpp b/src/LuaManager.cpp
index 7bbe533d67..550109848f 100644
--- a/src/LuaManager.cpp
+++ b/src/LuaManager.cpp
@@ -838,7 +838,7 @@ bool LuaHelpers::RunExpression( Lua *L, const RString &sExpression, const RStrin
 	return true;
 }
 
-void LuaHelpers::ParseCommandList( Lua *L, const RString &sCommands, const RString &sName )
+void LuaHelpers::ParseCommandList( Lua *L, const RString &sCommands, const RString &sName, bool bLegacy )
 {
 	RString sLuaFunction;
 	if( sCommands.size() > 0 && sCommands[0] == '\033' )
@@ -854,18 +854,35 @@ void LuaHelpers::ParseCommandList( Lua *L, const RString &sCommands, const RStri
 	else
 	{
 		Commands cmds;
-		ParseCommands( sCommands, cmds );
+		ParseCommands( sCommands, cmds, bLegacy );
 
 		// Convert cmds to a Lua function
 		ostringstream s;
 
 		s << "return function(self)\n";
 
+		if( bLegacy )
+			s << "\tparent = self:GetParent();\n";
+
 		FOREACH_CONST( Command, cmds.v, c )
 		{
 			const Command& cmd = (*c);
-			RString local_sName = cmd.GetName();
-			s << "\tself:" << local_sName << "(";
+			RString sCmdName = cmd.GetName();
+			if( bLegacy )
+				sCmdName.MakeLower();
+			s << "\tself:" << sCmdName << "(";
+
+			bool bFirstParamIsString = bLegacy && (
+					sCmdName == "horizalign" ||
+					sCmdName == "vertalign" ||
+					sCmdName == "effectclock" ||
+					sCmdName == "blend" ||
+					sCmdName == "ztestmode" ||
+					sCmdName == "cullmode" ||
+					sCmdName == "playcommand" ||
+					sCmdName == "queuecommand" ||
+					sCmdName == "queuemessage" ||
+					sCmdName == "settext");
 
 			for( unsigned i=1; i<cmd.m_vsArgs.size(); i++ )
 			{
@@ -875,7 +892,12 @@ void LuaHelpers::ParseCommandList( Lua *L, const RString &sCommands, const RStri
 				if( sArg[0] == '+' )
 					sArg.erase( sArg.begin() );
 
-				if( sArg[0] == '#' )	// HTML color
+				if( i==1 && bFirstParamIsString ) // string literal, legacy only
+				{
+					sArg.Replace( "'", "\\'" );	// escape quote
+					s << "'" << sArg << "'";
+				}
+				else if( sArg[0] == '#' )	// HTML color
 				{
 					RageColor col;	// in case FromString fails
 					col.FromString( sArg );
diff --git a/src/LuaManager.h b/src/LuaManager.h
index a2ff70af13..ea493ff97e 100644
--- a/src/LuaManager.h
+++ b/src/LuaManager.h
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ namespace LuaHelpers
 	// Read the table at the top of the stack back into a vector.
 	void ReadArrayFromTableB( Lua *L, vector<bool> &aOut );
 
-	void ParseCommandList( lua_State *L, const RString &sCommands, const RString &sName );
+	void ParseCommandList( lua_State *L, const RString &sCommands, const RString &sName, bool bLegacy );
 
 	XNode *GetLuaInformation();
 
diff --git a/src/OptionsList.cpp b/src/OptionsList.cpp
index 24c78e8e4e..e7c5c66d56 100644
--- a/src/OptionsList.cpp
+++ b/src/OptionsList.cpp
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ void OptionsList::Load( RString sType, PlayerNumber pn )
 
 		RString sRowCommands = LINE(sLineName);
 		Commands cmds;
-		ParseCommands( sRowCommands, cmds );
+		ParseCommands( sRowCommands, cmds, false );
 
 		OptionRowHandler *pHand = OptionRowHandlerUtil::Make( cmds );
 		if( pHand == NULL )
diff --git a/src/ScreenOptionsMaster.cpp b/src/ScreenOptionsMaster.cpp
index 039450739c..9ce88793fb 100644
--- a/src/ScreenOptionsMaster.cpp
+++ b/src/ScreenOptionsMaster.cpp
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ void ScreenOptionsMaster::Init()
 		RString sRowCommands = LINE(sLineName);
 		
 		Commands cmds;
-		ParseCommands( sRowCommands, cmds );
+		ParseCommands( sRowCommands, cmds, false );
 
 		OptionRowHandler *pHand = OptionRowHandlerUtil::Make( cmds );
 		if( pHand == NULL )
diff --git a/src/ThemeManager.cpp b/src/ThemeManager.cpp
index fee5283983..ecdf20efd3 100644
--- a/src/ThemeManager.cpp
+++ b/src/ThemeManager.cpp
@@ -1030,7 +1030,7 @@ void ThemeManager::PushMetric( Lua *L, const RString &sMetricsGroup, const RStri
 	RString sName = ssprintf( "%s::%s", sMetricsGroup.c_str(), sValueName.c_str() );
 	if( EndsWith(sValueName, "Command") )
 	{
-		LuaHelpers::ParseCommandList( L, sValue, sName );
+		LuaHelpers::ParseCommandList( L, sValue, sName, false );
 	}
 	else
 	{
diff --git a/src/XmlFileUtil.cpp b/src/XmlFileUtil.cpp
index 4bcfe0e40f..8a3561af5c 100644
--- a/src/XmlFileUtil.cpp
+++ b/src/XmlFileUtil.cpp
@@ -580,7 +580,8 @@ namespace
 
 		if( EndsWith(sName, "Command") )
 		{
-			LuaHelpers::ParseCommandList( L, sExpression, sFile );
+			// Use legacy parsing
+			LuaHelpers::ParseCommandList( L, sExpression, sFile, true );
 		}
 		else if( sExpression.size() > 0 && sExpression[0] == '@' )
 		{