SHENANDOAH^©

Album's version

Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Away you rolling river
I'll take her across the water
Away, bound away
Cross the wide Missouri

My Shenandoah, I long to meet you
Away you rolling river
I'll not deceive you
Away, bound away
Cross the wide Missouri

Hmmm...

For seven years I've been a roller
Away you rolling river
Seven years I've been a roller
Away, bound away
Cross the wide Missouri

Shenandoah, I love your daughter
The way you rolling river
I'll take her across the water
Away, bound away
Cross the wide Missouri

Hmmm...

Bruce Springsteen recorded this traditional song with The Seeger Sessions Band during the "Seeger Sessions". The song is included on Bruce's 2006 cover album, We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions.

The Seeger Sessions consist of three recording sessions (a 2-days session on 01 and 02 Nov 1997, a 1-day session in Dec 2005, and a 1-day session in Jan 2006), during which all the album's songs were cut live in the living room of Bruce's New Jersey farmhouse. The songs were not rehearsed and all arrangements were conducted as Bruce and the band played. It is not clear during which one of the 3 sessions this song was recorded.

The above lyrics refer to Bruce's version from the We Shall Overcome - The Seeger Sessions album. It is much less developed than the the traditional version.

The in-studio performance of the song is included on the DVD side of the DualDisc album.

This song was reported to be rehearsed for the Seeger Sessions tour by Bruce Springsteen with his Seeger Sessions Band on 21 Mar 2006 at the Paramount Theater, Asbury Park, NJ, and 12 Apr 2006 at the Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ. Some comments from the people who listened to the rehearsals:

• "Violin intro with a banjo. Bruce worked on the beginning of it a bit before going into the song." [21 Mar]
• "[Bruce] worked on the closing a few times. More violin." [12 Apr]

Pete Seeger, to whom the above album is dedicated, has recorded SHENANDOAH. It now can be found on:

• Children's Concert At Town Hall (LP: 1963 - CD: 1990 - Columbia 46185)
• American Favorite Ballads Vol. 1 (2002 - Smithsonian/Folkways)

This was a sea chantey, used with the windlass, and the capstan. The lead man would sing the first and third lines of each verse and the crew would sing on the second and fourth lines, as they did their work, with winches for loading cargo, raising sails, pulling up anchors, and other jobs on deck.

Shenandoah was probably an Indian chief living on the Missouri River. Some believe the song originated among the early American river men, or Canadian voyageurs. Others believe it was a land song before it went to sea. Most agree that it incorporates both Irish and African-American elements.

SHENANDOAH was tremendously popular both on land and sea and was known by countless names, including: "Shennydore", "The Wide Missouri", "Across The Wide Missouri", "The Wild Mizzourye", "The World Of Misery", "Solid Fas" (a West Indian rowing shanty that may be older than other versions), "The Oceanida", "Rolling River", and "Oh Shenandoah".

Two verses of the song were published in an article by W. J. Alden in Harper's Magazine (1882). A version of "Solid Fas" was collected by R. Abrams in England in 1909. The shanty is said to date at least to the 1820's.

Check out Dave Marsh's liner notes below for additional details.

The above lyrics refer to Bruce's album version. Check also the traditional version, which is much more developed that Bruce's.

Dave Marsh's liner notes about SHENANDOAH:

An American pioneer's homesick and lovelorn lament, from very early in the country's history, probably the first two decades of the 19th century. It probably started as a riverman's chantey (work song), and was then adapted both as a popular ballad.

This version is very trim; others have many more verses. Some recount the love of a young woman for an Indian chief named Shenandoah. This possibly descends from a tale about the love of Sally, a daughter of Shenandoah, who fell in love with a white Missouri trader. (There was an Oneida chief named Skenandoah who allegedly brought corn to Washington's troops at Valley Forge.)

The song's geography is confusing--the Shenandoah River runs through Virginia and West Virginia, about a thousand miles from the wide Missouri. Some folk song historians believe that the song originated on land in the Missouri or Mississippi River Valley, then was adopted by marine workers; others believe the route ran the other way and that the song's rolling rhythm perhaps indicates that it was sung first by French-Canadian voyageurs. The website of Richard Thompson, who included it in his 1000 Years of Popular Music album, proposes that the song originated in Shenandoah, Iowa, which is twenty miles east of the Missouri.

The song's height of popularity, around the 1830s, the apex of the clipper ship era. Sailor's sang it while winding the capstan, the winch wheel that raised the heavy anchor. "Shenandoah" was also sung by the American cavalry, whose soldiers knew it as "The Wild Mizzourye."

"Shenandoah" has been recorded by, among many others, Bob Dylan, Paul Robeson, Harry Belafonte, the Statler Brothers, Dave Alvin, Daniel Lanois (on the Sling Blade soundtrack), and Roger McGuinn. Instrumental versions of the melody abound, from Duane Eddy to Lawrence Welk. Pete Seeger made a version for Folkways, available on American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 1.