Lyr Add: The Blue Juniata

Subject: Lyr Add: The Blue Juniata
From: harpgirl
Date: 28 Jun 04 - 11:13 PM

The Blue Juniata

Wild roved an Indian girl, bright Alfarata,
Where sweeps the water of the blue Juniata;
Swift as an antelope through the forest going,
Loose were her jetty locks, in wavy tresses flowing.

Gay was the mountain song of bright Alfarata,
Where sweeps the water of the blue Juniata:
"Strong and true my arrows are in my painted quiver;
Swift goes my light canoe adown the rapid river.

"Bold is my warrior good, the love of Alfarata,
Proud waves his snowy plume along the Juniata;
Soft and low he speaks to me and then his war cry sounding,
Rings his voice in thunder loud, from height to height resounding."

So sang the Indian girl, bright Alfarata,
Where sweep the waters of the blue Juniata.
Fleeting years have borne away the voice of Alfarata;
Still sweeps the river on, blue Juniata.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Juniata
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Jun 04 - 02:33 AM

Thanks, Harpy. the Levy Sheet Music Collection says Words & Melody were by Mrs. M. D. Sullivan, published in 1841 and 1844. Public Domain Music has a MIDI here (click).

So, what the heck is a Juniata?

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Juniata
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 29 Jun 04 - 06:08 AM

Seems to be a river in Pennsylvania. See (eg) The Juniata River Valley Visitors Bureau

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Juniata
From: jeffp
Date: 29 Jun 04 - 08:03 AM

Also a college, located in Huntingdon, Pa., on the Juniata River.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Juniata
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Jun 04 - 02:23 PM

The song remained popular for a long time after Mrs. Sullivan wrote it. Some have called it "the first hit song by a woman." The piano score by E. L. White, published with the song in 1846, was in most homes with a piano. Words and music are given in the book "Heart Songs, Melodies of Days Gone By," which was widely distributed in 1909 and after, and it also appears in some school songbooks.

I don't think any of her other songs ever survived for long. Her song "Oh! Boatmen Row Me O'er the Stream," is in American Memory in an arrangement for guitar, 1857.
"We Cross the Prairies as of Old, Song of the Kansas Emigrants," 1854, words by J. G. Whittier, music by Mrs Sullivan, is mentioned in some western histories.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Juniata
From: RangerSteve
Date: 30 Jun 04 - 09:44 AM

Correct, it's in Pa, it joins the Susquehanna around Harrisburg. Like all rivers that are described as "Blue", it's brown.

Thanks, Harpgirl, I had forgotten a few of the words and the version I learned only had 3 verses.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Juniata
From: jeffp
Date: 30 Jun 04 - 10:16 AM

When I was a student at Juniata College, every spring we would have a raft race on the Juniata River (yes, it is brown and not a bit blue). Students would get together in teams and build homemade rafts and compete in categories such as design, beauty, speed, etc. Of course, for most of us it was just another opportunity for partying. We would load up as much beer as we could fit on the raft and drink our way down the river. Great fun!

Thanks for stimulating some great (but fuzzy) memories.

jeffp

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Juniata
From: harpgirl
Date: 30 Jun 04 - 12:35 PM

Actually, I was kind of looking around for songs with references to Indians when I found this song in the AP Hudson book. I had just read "The Journal of May Dodd" which is a fictional account of a white woman who goes to live and be a bride of a Cheyenne Indian brave. Evidently the Juniata is a river in Pennsylvania as you all have noted and the song's composer was inspired by the river. I'll post the info from AP Hudson when I get home later. His informant seems to have collected it in the area and brought it to Mississippi. harpy