Shenandoah (from “5 Sea Chanties”)

Description

“Shenandoah” or “Across the Wide Missouri” is a traditional American folk song of uncertain origin, dating to the early 19th century.

The song appears to have originated with Canadian and US voyageurs or fur traders traveling down the Missouri River in canoes, and has developed several different sets of lyrics. Some lyrics refer to the Oneida 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.