Oh, Shenandoah!

Wow! That song, Oh, Shenandoah!, has been recorded by at least eighty different artists including:

Archibald Asparagus from "Veggie Tales" (I know you're excited about that), but also Tennessee Ernie Ford (what an amazing voice HE had!), Harry Belafonte, Glenn Campbell, Celtic Woman, Bing Crosby, Bob Dylan, Judy Garland, Arlo Guthrie, The Kingston Trio, Michael Landon! for "Bonanza," the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Pete Seegar, Bruce Springsteen, The Statler Brothers, the Virginia Military Institute Regimental Band and Glee Club, and my favorite, The Trampled Turtles!  You can see that it is such a truly beautiful composition that it crosses all genres of music, but it will always remain a folk song, a real American original.

VMI (the Virginia Military Institute), of course, is located IN the Shenandoah Valley, so it makes sense that they recorded it - I hope they did it acapella because I'm certain it would be truly beautiful performed that way. 

The song, also known as Across the Wide Missouri, has nebulous origins.  It's positively known to date back to the early 1800's, and, again because of the importance of rivers to travel, made its way down to the sea and became a favorite of sailors.  Once it reached the coast the song was picked up by Clipper ship crews and became known world wide.  But it wasn't just a single song the way we think of them today.  The genera was known as sea chanties, and verses were added by seemingly every crew.  

If you've ever seen the epic movie How The West Was Won (1962) or Shenandoah (1965) starring Jimmy Stewart, you've heard at least a version of the song.   Some versions tell of a roving trader in the American west in love with an Indian chief's daughter, others of homesick pioneers who've left the Shenandoah behind in search of something more for their lives, still others chant of a rebel soldier from the Civil War dreaming of going home to Virginia, and slaves were known to have their own versions that they sung in praise of the Shenandoah River for covering the scent of their escape across the river away from the hounds hunting them down as runaways.

Here are a few of the versions - but they're all sung to the same hauntingly beautiful tune:

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.

Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter, Away, you rolling river. For her I'd cross, Your roaming waters, Away, I'm bound away, 'Cross the wide Missouri.

'Tis seven years, since last I've seen you, And hear your rolling river. 'Tis seven years, since last I've seen you, Away, we're bound away, Across the wide Missouri.

Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you, And hear your rolling river. Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you, Away, we're bound away, Across the wide Missouri.

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, which went:

Oh, Shenandoah! I hear you calling! Away, you rolling river! Yes, far away I hear you calling, Ha, Ha! I'm bound away across the wide Missouri.

My girl, she's gone far from the river, Away, you rolling river! An' I ain't goin' to see her never. Ha, Ha! I'm bound away, " &c.

The deep sonorous voice of Tennessee Ernie Ford in 1971 recorded:

Oh Shenandoah, I hear you calling, Hi-Ho, You rolling river. Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you, Hi-Ho, I'm bound Away. 'Cross the wide, Missouri.

Miss-ou-ri, She's a mighty river, Hi-Ho, You rolling River. When she rolls down, Her topsoils shiver, Hi-Ho, I'm bound Away, 'Cross the wide, Missouri.

Farwell my Dearest, I'm bound to leave you, Hi-Ho, You rolling river. Oh Shenandoah, I'll not Deceive you, Hi-Ho, I'm bound Away. 'Cross the wide Miss-ou-ri.

Both of the movies are really good movies, (my favorite being the one with Jimmy Stewart), so if you want to get a feel for the song, watch either or both of those.  I'm sure you could find just a soundtrack of one of the versions in a multitude of different ways.  All of them will be pleasing to the ear!