Hoo boy. I seem to start out a number of these articls saying, “I’ve always vaguely thought . . . “ and then explaining why I was wrong. Well, here’s another one. I’ve always vaguely thought that “Oh Shenandoah” was about the Shenandoah River and/or Valley Didn’t you? The river with that name runs through the valley in Virginia and West Virginia, although it’s not a major one but instead a tributary of the Potomac. (There’s also a Shenandoah River in New Zealand, but we won’t worry about that one.) So my vague impression was that the speaker was from the Shenandoah Valley/River and loved that part of the country but he was having to leave it to cross the wide Missouri.
While there are several theories about the song’s origins, the one I like best says that it refers not to a river to but an Indian chief, Oskanondonha (look at it squinty-eyed and you’ll see how we got the modern spelling, leaving off the initial “O”), and the speaker is one of the traders who traveled on the Missouri River during the early 1800’s. The story is that he fell in love with the chief’s daughter but had to leave her to go back “across the wide Missouri.” Since once again we’re dealing with a true folk song, there are many versions. Eventually, by around the mid-to-late 1800’s, the song had become more of a generalized boatman’s or sailor’s chantey and the original meaning had been lost. A common version starts out, “Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear you,” a line that could refer to the sound of a running river but could also mean a woman’s voice; another version says, “Oh Shenandoah, I hear you calling.” It’s easy to see how the original meaning of the love affair between the trader and the Indian maiden gradually morphed into a song of longing for a river and its valley.
- Missouri, she’s a mighty river.
Away you rolling river.
The redskins’ camp, lies on its borders.
Ah-ha, I’m bound away, ‘Cross the wide Missouri.
- The white man loved the Indian maiden,
Away you rolling river.
With notions his canoe was laden.
Ah-ha, I’m bound away, ‘Cross the wide Missouri.
- “O, Shenandoah, I love your daughter,
Away you rolling river.
I’ll take her ‘cross yon rolling water.”
Ah-ha, I’m bound away, ‘Cross the wide Missouri.
- The chief disdained the trader’s dollars:
Away you rolling river.
“My daughter never you shall follow.”
Ah-ha, I’m bound away, ‘Cross the wide Missouri.
- At last there came a Yankee skipper.
Away you rolling river.
He winked his eye, and tipped his flipper.
Ah-ha, I’m bound away, ‘Cross the wide Missouri.
- He sold the chief that fire-water,
Away you rolling river.
And ‘cross the river stole his daughter.
Ah-ha, I’m bound away, ‘Cross the wide Missouri.
- “O, Shenandoah, I long to hear you,
Away you rolling river.
Across that wide and rolling river.”
Ah-ha, I’m bound away, ‘Cross the wide Missouri.
Note several historical issues here: The “redskins” have a camp by the river, easily accessible to traders and their “notions,” or cheap trinkets, for sale. (A persistent myth that the Dutch bought the island of Manhattan for $24 worth of trinkets from the Indians living there is just that, a myth. I don’t have space here to go into that whole story, but here’s a link to a good explanation.) But the Indians are known for their pride, not their gullibility, and the chief rejects the idea that his daughter is for sale and sends the trader away. Along comes another trader, though, who winks and waves (“tips his flipper”) at either the daughter or the chief or both. But the Yankee doesn’t bother with trinkets; instead, he sells the chief “fire-water,” or some type of liquor, probably rum. Oh man–does this whole “fire-water” idea open up a can of worms! While there’s no evidence that Native Americans are any more susceptible to alcohol than any other people group, it is undoubtedly true that European settlers used it as a tool in their conquest of America. While the native population was by no means a stranger to all sorts of intoxicants, these substances were typically low in alcohol or used in religious or communal celebrations (along with various hallucinogens). Rum and other distilled liquors were stronger than they were used to, and the settlers exploited alcohol as a trading tool. The lyrics above were not written down until sometime before 1860, at which time the forcible relocation of many Indian tribes had started taking place, leading to the sort of trauma that fueled excess alcohol consumption.
Well! We’ve wandered rather far afield from the current versions of the song, haven’t we? The lyrics we sing today are much more generalized, but you can ascertain the original story here and there. The great a cappella group Chanticleer does a great job with it below. I guess, by the way, that you just don’t bother with the “ah” on the ending of “Shenandoah”; otherwise, the number of syllables doesn’t fit the music:
Here’s a fairly standard version of the lyrics:
Away, you rolling river
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to hear 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’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.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.And here’s a version I’ve sung with my own choir, an arrangement that melds this song with the spiritual “Deep River” by the mother/daughter team of Sonja & Berta Poorman. From over a million views above to this one of just over 200. Never say I don’t have variety in my selections!
© Debi Simons
