"Oh Shenandoah" is a traditional American folk song of uncertain origin,
dating at least to the early 19th century.
The song appears to have originated with Canadian and American voyageurs or fur
traders traveling down the Missouri River in canoes, and has developed
several different sets of lyrics. Some lyrics refer to the Native American
chief "Shenandoah" and a canoe-going trader who wants to marry his daughter.
By the mid 1800s versions of the song had become a sea shanty heard or sung by
sailors in various parts of the world. The song is number 324 in the Roud Folk
Song Index. History
Until the 19th century only adventurers who sought their fortunes as trappers
and traders of beaver fur ventured as far west as the Missouri River. Most of
these Canadian and American "voyageurs" in the fur trade era were loners who
became friendly with, and sometimes married, Native Americans. Some lyrics
from the early 1800s tell the story of a trader who fell in love with the
daughter of the Oneida Iroquois pine tree chief, Oskanondonha, called
Shenandoah. His name means "deer antlers". Also called John Shenandoah or
John Skanandoa, the chief lived in the central New York state town of Oneida
Castle. He was a co-founder of the Oneida Academy, which became Hamilton
College in Clinton, New York, and is buried on the campus grounds.
The canoe-going fur-trading voyageurs were great singers, and songs were an
important part of their culture. Also in the early 19th century, flatboatmen who
plied the Missouri River were known for their shanties, including "Oh
Shenandoah". Sailors heading down the Mississippi River picked up the song and
made it a capstan shanty that they sang while hauling in the anchor. This
boatmen's song found its way down the Mississippi River to American clipper
ships, and thus around the world. The song had become popular as a sea
chanty with seafaring sailors by the mid 1800s. A version of the song called
"Shanadore" was mentioned in Capt. Robert Chamblet Adams' article "Sailors'
Songs" in the April 1876 issue of The New Dominion Monthly. He also included
it in his 1879 book On Board the "Rocket". "Shanadore" was later printed
as part of William L. Alden's article "Sailor Songs" in the July 1882 issue of
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, and in the 1892 book Songs that Never Die.
Alfred Mason Williams' 1895 Studies in Folk-song and Popular Poetry called it a
"good specimen of a bowline chant". In a letter to the UK newspaper The
Times, a former sailor who had worked aboard clipper ships carrying wool
between Britain and Australia in the 1880s suggested the song had originated
as a black American spiritual which developed into a work song:
This chantey is obviously of American origin.... "Shenandoah" was more a wool
and cotton chantey than a capstan chantey. I have many times heard it sung
down the hold on the wool screws by the Sydney waterside workers ... and many
were full-blood negroes, who undoubtedly brought these chanteys off the cotton
ships.... With regard to the words, these vary according to the taste of the
chantey man in the first and third line of each verse, there being no effort
called for on these two lines, but the second and fourth lines were always the
same, these being the rhythm lines on which the weight was used. When I was in
the wool trade in the eighties, in both The Tweed and Cutty Sark this chantey
was daily used on the wool screws. Lyrics
Since "Shenandoah" was a riverman's and then sailor's song and went through
numerous changes and versions over the years and centuries, there are no set
lyrics. Modern lyrics are usually some variation of the following:
= Earlier versions = Lyrics from prior to 1860, as given in
Sea Songs and Shanties, collected by W.B. Whall, Master Mariner were reported
as follows: A Mr. J.E. Laidlaw of San Francisco
reported hearing a version sung by a black Barbadian sailor aboard the
Glasgow ship Harland in 1894: Lyrics to "Oh Shenandoah" as sung by
Tennessee Ernie Ford: Modern usage
The song is popular in local organizations such as Shenandoah
University, Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military
Institute. In 2006 "Shenandoah" was proposed as the
"interim state song" for Virginia, with updated lyrics. The proposal was
contentious because the standard folksong refers to the Missouri River
and never specifically mentions Virginia and, in many versions of the song, the
name "Shenandoah" refers to an Indian chief, not the Shenandoah Valley or
Shenandoah River which lie almost entirely in Virginia. In 2015, "Our
Great Virginia", which uses the melody of "Shenandoah" was designated by the
Virginia Legislature as the official traditional state song of Virginia.
It features in the soundtrack of the 1965 movie, Shenandoah, starring Jimmy
Stewart, and is also heard as a part of a medley in the 1962 film How the West
Was Won. Members of the Western Writers of
America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
Various arrangements by Percy Grainger have been recorded by John Shirley-Quirk
and other classically-trained singers. "A song of the waters: variations on the
folksong Shenandoah" is a classical composition by James Cohn.
Selected notable recordings Heather Alexander on Arms of the Sea
Dave Alvin on Public Domain: Songs From the Wild Land
Harry Belafonte on a 1952 single and on Belafonte at Carnegie Hall
David Berkeley on Some Kind of Cure Glen Campbell on The Artistry of Glen
Campbell and The Essential Glen Campbell Volume One
Celtic Woman on Celtic Woman: A New Journey
Chanticleer on Out of This World and Chanticleer: A Portrait
Liam Clancy, on The Wheels of Life Paul Clayton on Whaling and Sailing
Songs from the Days of Moby Dick The Corries on Flower of Scotland
Bing Crosby on How the West Was Won David Daniels on A Quiet Thing
Connie Dover on Somebody Bob Dylan on Down in the Groove
Fisherman's Friends on Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends
Tennessee Ernie Ford on Shenandoah and The Folk Album
Sergio Franchi on Live at The Coconut Grove
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman on Not For Kids Only
Judy Garland on That Old Feeling - Classic Ballads from the Judy Garland
Show Nathan Gunn on American Anthem
Arlo Guthrie on Son of the Wind R.W. Hampton on Born to be a Cowboy
Thomas Hampson on Song of America Harvard Glee Club on multiple
recordings; arrangements by Archibald T. Davison and Jameson Marvin
Michael Holliday on Hi! The Kelly Family on Honest Workers
The King's Singers on The King's Singers: Original Debut Recording
The Kingston Trio as "Across the Wide Missouri" on Here We Go Again!
Roger McGuinn on Limited Edition Michigan State University Children's
Choir on America the Beautiful: Songs of Our Heritage
Mormon Tabernacle Choir on multiple recordings including America's Choir,
Choral Adagios, Essential Choral Classics.
Van Morrison with The Chieftains on The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3
Leontyne Price on God Bless America Jerry Reed on A Good Woman's Love
Men of the Robert Shaw Chorale on Sea Shanties
Paul Robeson on multiple recordings including Ballads for Americans, The
Essential Paul Robeson, Spirituals, Folksongs & Hymns
Pete Seeger on American Favorite Ballads, Volume 1
Bruce Springsteen and the Seeger Sessions Band on We Shall Overcome: The
Seeger Sessions Jo Stafford on American Folk Songs
The Statler Brothers on Big Country Hits Bryn Terfel on A Song in my Heart
Hayley Westenra on Celtic Treasure Tom Waits with Keith Richards on Son of
Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys.
References External links
1921 version, from The Shanty Book Lyrics from Capstan Bars published by
David Bone Lyrics from The Book of Navy Songs with
MIDI Lyrics on Friends Across America