Wyandotte's Farewell Song, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer sadly bids farewell to his ancestral home and prepares to head west. Various familiar scenes -- trees, streams, roads, church -- are fondly recalled
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (newspaper in Sandusky, Ohio)
KEYWORDS: nonballad parting travel Indians(Am.)
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 117, "The Wyandotte's Farewell Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Salt-BuckeyeHeritage-OhiosHistory, pp. 74-75, "The Wyandotte Farewell Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST E117 (Full)
Roud #4342
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Fare Ye Well, Enniskillen (The Inniskillen Dragoon)" (tune)
NOTES [110 words]: This reminds me strongly of "A Prisoner for Life (I - Farewell to Green Fields and Meadows)" -- while there are no common stanzas, the feeling is quite similar and they can be fit to the same tune. But "A Prisoner for Life" is in triple time, while Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio transcribes this song in four. So I suppose they're separate. Particularly as this appears to be the song of an American Indian forced to leave home and go across the Mississippi (presumably to a reservation, perhaps in Indian Territory?).
In the song, the singer expresses gratitude to the "white friends, who first taught me to pray." This strikes me as laying it on a bit thick. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.3
File: E117

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