I asked Randy to send me his "march" version of Shenandoah  -- which is
magnificent.

After I listened to it many times, I suggested the "Virginia" version might
start with the line:

        Virginia, birthplace of liberty ...

I open the discussion to the rest of you to complete the new lyric...

And, FYI, I couldn't figure out a way to make Rappahannock fit in the meter,
even though I really wanted to.

Peter V. Bergstrom, PhD
Independent Historian,
PC Services Consultant & Web Designer
336-286-8654
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-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Dr. Jurretta Jordan
Heckscher
Sent: 01 February 2006 8:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: SHENANDOAH 02012348Z06 02020034Z06


To what or whom does the "Shenandoah" in the song by that name refer?

I learned a version of it as a child that begins,

"Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you;
Way hey, you rolling river;
Oh, Shenandoah, I long to see you;
Way hey, I'm bound away, 'cross the wide Missouri."

And so I always thought that the phrase "you rolling river" meant that the song
was addressed to the Shenandoah River (and that "your daughter" mentioned in a
later verse was some girl who'd grown up by the river).  Had I learned it first
later in life, I might not have been so quick to assume that a song of romantic
longing was addressed to a river--but at age about seven, it made perfect sense.

I now need to have that illusion shattered, it seems.  Fire away. . . .

--Jurretta Heckscher

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