THE WIDE MISSOURI
(Capstan Shanty)

Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you –
Away, my rolling river!
Oh Shenandoah, I can't get near you –
Way–ay, I'm bound away
Across the wide Missouri.

Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter!
Away, my rolling river!
She lives across the stormy water –
Way–ay, I'm bound away
Across the wide Missouri.

Oh Shenandoah, I've took a notion –
Away, my rolling river!
To sail across the stormy ocean –
Way–ay, I'm bound away
Across the wide Missouri.

Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you –
Away, my rolling river!
Oh Shenandoah, I can't get near you –
Way–ay, I'm bound away
Across the wide Missouri.

Notes by CFS, p. 64:

This, better known, perhaps, as "Shenandoah," or, in shellback fashion, "Shannadore" – was a general favourite before the eighteen-nineties, but it seems to have been heard comparatively seldom after that date. It is a particularly fine tune, and possesses an orthodox set of words which by no means live up to the beauty of the melody: most shantymen, however, seem to have contented themselves with the stereotyped tags – "Oh Shannadore, I long to hear you," and so forth. Whall (Capt. W.B., SEA SONGS AND SHANTIES, 1910) says it is a shore song turned into a shanty: however that may be, the very soul of the sea seems to speak in it more than any other shanty I know.

X:1
T:The Wide Missouri
C:C. Fox Smith 'A Book of shanties' p 65
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:Eb
z3B, E E|E3F G B|B G2z(e d)|c3B c B|
w:Oh Shen-an-doah, I long to hear you A_
G B2c c/2 c/2|c3B G E|F2E3E|G3E G c|
w:-way my roll-ing riv-er! Oh Shen-an-doah I can't get near you way
B4zE G3/2 G/2 (G F) E2|F2E2
w:-ay I'm bound a-wayA-cross the wide_ Mis-sour-i!

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