I've been listening to a recording of Kathleen Battle singing "He's Gone Away." It is so beautiful. I cry every time I hear it because it evokes a personal loss for me. I'd like to learn about the origins of the song.
Background: It's described as "American trad." on the liner notes. There is a closely related, or maybe the same, song known as "Ten Thousand Miles." The refrain is
He's gone away For to stay a little while But he's coming back If he go ten thousand mile.
The lyrics were discussed on a Mudcat thread thread.cfm?threadid=4015 several years ago, but I can't find any information on the source, the circumstances under which it was written, or whom it was written about. Can anyone help?