Josephine Cameron: Music

• MP3 short clip, hi-fi play (broadband)
• MP3 short clip, lo-fi play (modem)

This is probably one of the most popular and well-known American folk songs of all time. It’s a beautiful story about a seaman who falls in love with and then abandons the daughter of Shenandoah, an Indian chief living on the Missouri River. This story, like “Red River Valley,” gives us a very real glimpse of what life was like during the Western Expansion years. The press forward for a new land, the clash of worlds, the desire to keep moving, keep searching—and the leaving behind that went along with it all. The song was traditionally considered to be a sea shanty, but it lacks the lively rhythm typical of shanties, and many now believe it was a land song long before it went to sea. It is said to date back to at least the 1820’s.

Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you
Away, you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you
Away, I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri

Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Away, you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Away, I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri

Oh Shenandoah, I’ll not deceive you
Away, you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah, I’ll not deceive you
Away, I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri

Oh Shenandoah, I’m bound to leave you
Away, you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah, I’m bound to leave you
Away, I’m bound away
Cross the wide Missouri