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Shenandoah

Date: Fri, 8 Dec 1995 12:18:17 -0600
To: Karl.Erik.Andersen@nbr.no
From: markg@leland.stanford.edu (Mark Gonnerman)
Subject: Atlas/ Shenandoah

Turns out that if "Shenandoah" belongs in the Atlas it should be filed under "Missouri River." In the song Shenandoah is the name of an Indian chief, not the river valley in the Appalachian Mountains.

The song originated with French voyageurs or Missouri River boatmen. It was soon claimed by high-seas sailors and became one of the best known and most frequently used of the capstan shanties. In its earliest version the song tells the story of how a white trader courted Shenandoah's daughter and bore her away in his canoe. The sailors added their own words and a verse about "Sally," and what we have now is mostly nonsense. As Pete Seeger says in his introduction to the song in AMERICAN FAVORITE BALLADS (1961), "Why should this favorite sea shanty concern an Indian chief, and a midwestern river? And why does everyone love it so and refuse to change it?"

--Mark

Here is the way Bob sings it on DOWN IN THE GROOVE (1988):

Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you
Look away, you rollin' river
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri

Now the Missouri is a mighty river
Look away, you rollin' river.
Indians camp along her border
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri

Well a white man loved an Indian maiden
Look away, you rollin' river
With notions his canoe was laden
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri

Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Look away, you rollin' river
It was for her I'd cross the water.
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri

For seven long years I courted Sally
Look away, you rollin' river
Seven more years I longed to have her
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri

Well, it's fare-thee-well, my dear, I'm bound to leave you
Look away you rollin' river
Shenandoah, I will not deceive you
Look away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri

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