Origins: He's Gone Away (Ten Thousand Miles)

Subject: Origins: He's Gone Away (Ten Thousand Miles)
From: Pauline L
Date: 25 Nov 04 - 02:19 PM

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?

Pauline

Subject: RE: Origins: He's Gone Away (Ten Thousand Miles)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Nov 04 - 07:41 PM

There are many interrelated songs, going back to "The Lass of Roch Royal," Child # 76, but the particular song as sung by Kathleen Battle stems from a ballad like "The False True-Lover," published in 1906 by H. M. Belden and collected in Missouri. It has most of the elements she includes in the song. Variants are known from elsewhere. Some verses are floaters, i. e., they are borrowed from other songs.
The circumstances and original authors are long forgotten.

I will post lyrics of "The False True-Lover" and a couple of related ballads.

Subject: RE: Origins: He's Gone Away (Ten Thousand Miles)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 25 Nov 04 - 08:53 PM

"The False True-Lover" and comments posted in thread 75921: False True Lover

Subject: RE: Origins: He's Gone Away (Ten Thousand Miles)
From: GUEST,Noreen
Date: 26 Nov 04 - 07:22 AM

It is innaccurate to say as Q does above, that this song and "The Lass of Roch Royal," Child #76 are interrelated.

Newer versions of this song may well contain floating verses from the other, but that happens with many, many songs- and does not mean or imply that the originals are interrelated.

I'm interested to learn more about this song and its many much-altered variants, so thanks for linking the threads, Q.