[WARNING: This song contains antiquated racial stereotypes. It is presented here for historical and educational purposes only.]
An anti-slavery song from 1856
words and music by Benjamin Russel Hanby
This beautiful, but sad song is from the slave’s viewpoint. It puts you in the mind of the slave. This has the effect of raising awareness of slavery. It worked like Uncle Tom’s Cabin and My Old Kentucky Home. Benjamin Hanby is called “The Stephen Foster of Ohio.” He also wrote Up On the Housetop and some white spirituals.
The sheet music:
Accompaniment by Werner Tomaschewski:
Lyrics
- There’s a low green valley on the old Kentucky shore
There I’ve whiled many happy hours away
A sitting and a singing by the little cottage door
Where lived my darling Nelly Gray
Chorus
Oh! my poor Nelly Gray, they have taken you away
And I’ll never see my darling any more
I’m sitting by the river and I’m weeping all the day
For you’ve gone from the old Kentucky shore
- When the moon had climb’d the mountain
And the stars were shining too
Then I’d take my darling Nelly Gray
And we’d float down the river in my little red canoe
While my banjo sweetly I would play - One night I went to see her but
“She’s gone!” the neighbors say
The white man bound her with his chain
They have taken her to Georgia to wear her life away
As she toils in the cotton and the cane - My canoe is under water and my banjo is unstrung
I’m tired of living any more
My eyes shall look downward and my songs shall be unsung
While I stay on the old Kentucky shore - My eyes are getting blinded and I cannot see my way
Hark! there’s somebody knocking at the door
Oh! I hear the angels calling and I see my Nelly Gray
Farewell to the old Kentucky shore
Final chorus
Oh! my darling Nelly Gray, up in heaven there they say
That they’ll never take you from me any more
I’m a-coming-coming-coming, as the angels clear the way
Farewell to the old Kentucky shore
Sung here by Fred Feild: