I hope the "official" version they're considering does not include the "Indian
maiden" verse, which would seem to me to be a late 19th century addition of a
commonplace motif. I can't tell you how many Tin Pan Alley ditties had Indian
maidens in them. Thousands. The "Indian love song" as a genre was almost as
popular as the "coon song." But I would feel pretty confident saying that few
real folksongs did, unless "corrupted" under the influence of the popular (read
"hack") tunesmiths.
To me Shenandoah has two things going for it. It's an actual folk song, passed
down in the oral tradition in many variants for many generations, though most
of us only know it from the rendtions from the "folk revival" of the '50s and
'60s, or later pop versions (from Dylan to Belafonte to Elvis, everybody's
covered this one). The second thing it has going for it is a far better melody
than any of the eight finalists. And everybody knows it already. How many of
us know (or, really, like) the pretenders?
Most modern "Shenandoahs" are descendant from the arranged version published by
musicologists, composers, and lefties Charles and Ruth Seeger (parents of
Pete). Ruth Seeger's source may well have been field recordings from the
Library of Congress; several of Aaron Copland's most famous melodies came from
the folk tradition by way of the Library of Congress, by way of Copland's
friendship with the Seegers. The folk process with martinis.
I know that the early ballad collector Olive Dame Campbell (see my dissertation
at U. Penn, "In the World of My Ancestors": The Folksong Collection of Olive
Dame Campbell, 1907-1944) collected a short version she called
"Shanidar,"probably in Kentucky in the 1910s. I don't have a copy of my diss
in front of me, and I don't remember whether or not the "Indian maiden" motif
was in that version. I'll check when I get home.
But in all cases, it seems perfectly possible to read Shenandoah as a song whose
context was the westward expansion, "bound away" from Old Virginia. Surely it
has been sung and interpreted that way for generations. Jimmy Dean
notwithstanding.
--
Dr. Douglas Day
Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society
McIntire Library Building
200 Second St., NE
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434-296-1492
www.albemarlehistory.org
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