Lyrics
Shenandoah
(traditional, arrangement and additional words by Chuck Phillips)
Missouri, she's a mighty river
Away, you rolling river.
The Indian's camp lies on its borders,
Away, I'm bound away
Across the wide Missouri
Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter,
Away you rolling river,
Oh Shenandoah, I'll come to claim her.
Away, I'm bound away
Across the wide Missouri.
(narrator)
Shenandoah is a very popular folk song, and it 's at least one hundred years old. No one knows who wrote it or where it came from, but it is about working on the rivers and sea. The story is also mysterious because now there are several different versions of the song. Some people think it's about a place like the Shenandoah valley in Virginia, but it is probably about an Native American Indian Chief named Shenandoah. In some versions of the song, a white fur trader from Canada falls in love with Shenandoah's daughter, and he wants to take her away.
In all these years whenever I saw her,
We have kept our love a secret,
Oh, Shenandoah I do adore her,
Away, I'm bound away
Across the wide Missouri.
Oh Shenandoah, She's bound to leave you.
Away you rolling river,
Oh Shenandoah I'll not deceive you.
Away, we're bound away
Across the wide Missouri.
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