Mrrzy - It's not that I can't sing a song once I understand it, it's just that in this case it takes on a whole new feeling and I'm not able to separate the music from the emotion I feel picturing the story the song tells. Just overly sentimental, I guess, and maybe it's personal because I nursed both my kids.

I will tell my daughters what it means, don't know when (they're 5 and 1 now), probably wait for an opportune moment (some serendipitous conjunction of black history month and a lullaby song-fest maybe)

Guest Cinnamon Johnson - do a forum search on Shenandoah and you'll find a very entertaining set of discussions that includes an assertion that the original lyrics went along the lines of "I love the place where you make water" (we're speaking anatomically here). The song has just never been the same for me since I read that, but I do still sing it!