Oh, my Darling Nellie Gray. They have taken you away
And I’ll never see my darling any more
Now I’m sitting by the river and I’m weeping all the day
For she’s gone from the old Kentucky shore
The song is familiar to many bluegrass and old time music fans. But when it was played on the Grand Old Opry by Bradley Kincaid this one critical verse was omitted:
One night I went to see her, but she’s gone the neighbors say
And the white man had bound her with his chain
They have taken her to Georgia for to wear her life away
As she toils in the cotton and the cane
This is a song about slavery, something in the past that many people would rather not talk about. The song was composed by Benjamin Hanby, an Ohio abolitionist whose father was active in the underground railroad ushering escaped black slaves to freedom. The protagonist’s love has just been sold further “down south” to the cotton fields of Georgia where not only will he never see her again, she may actually be worked to death.
With or without the context of slavery the story is still engaging:
There’s a low, green, valley on the old Kentucky shore
Where I’ve whiled many happy hours away,
Just a sitting and a singing by the little cottage door
Where lived my darling Nellie Gray
When the moon had climbed the mountain, and the stars were shining too
Then I’d take my darling Nellie Gray
And we’d go floatin’ down the river in my little red canoe
While my banjo sweetly I would play
(Note to banjo pickers: In the old days there weren’t so many banjo jokes and banjo pickers could be thought of in more romantic contexts).
Now my canoe is under water, and my banjo is unstrung
I am tired of living, anymore
My eyes shall be cast downward, and my songs will be unsung
While I stay on the old Kentucky shore
Our history haunts us still and not only in our music. Slavery still exists in many forms throughout the world. People are taken advantage of in many ways and are forced into involuntary servitude as a result. Despite the injustices, people still have hope of a better life and are encouraged by love that endures despite the injustice:
Now I’m getting old and feeble, and I cannot see my way
I can hear someone knocking on my door
I can hear the angels singing, and I see my Nellie Gray
So farewell to the old Kentucky shore
Oh, my darling Nellie Gray, up in heaven, so they say
And they’ll never take you from me, anymore
I’m coming, coming, coming, as the angels clear the way
So farewell to the old Kentucky shore.
