In "Cape Breton Captain," Capt. David A. McLeod recalled these lyrics from the 1870s:
Oh Shanandoah, I love your daughter Away you Rolling River My bully boys, I lover her ever Ah, ah, we are bound away To cross the Wild Missouri.
The sails are set and the gale is howling Away you Rolling River The tack is down and the sheets aflowing. Ah, ah, we are bound away To cross the Wild Missouri.
Oh Shanandoah, be good to Alice Away my [sic] Rolling River Till the day I die I shall ne'er forget her. Ah, ah, we are bound away To cross the Wild Missouri.