Red River Valley (song)
Encyclopedia
Red River Valley is a folk song and cowboy music standard of controversial origins that has gone by different names—e.g., "Cowboy Love Song", "Bright Sherman Valley", "Bright Laurel Valley", "In the Bright Mohawk Valley", and "Bright Little Valley"—depending on where it has been sung. It is listed as Roud Folk Song Index
756, and by Edith Fowke
as FO 13. It is recognizable by its chorus (with several variations):
offers anecdotal evidence that the song was known in at least five Canadian provinces before 1896. This finding led to speculation that the song was composed at the time of the Wolseley Expedition
to the northern Red River Valley
of 1870 in Manitoba
. It expresses the sorrow of a local man or woman (possibly a Métis
, meaning of French and aboriginal origin) as her soldier/lover prepares to return to Ontario
or as his girlfriend or wife can't take the harsh life in Texas and leaves him to return to Canada..
The earliest written manuscript of the lyrics, titled "Red River Valley", bears the notations 1879 and 1885 in locations Nemha and Harlan
in western Iowa, so it probably dates to at least that era.
The song appears in sheet music, titled "In the Bright Mohawk Valley", printed in New York in 1896 with James J. Kerrigan as the writer.
In 1925, Carl T. Sprague
, an early singing cowboy
from Texas, recorded it as "Cowboy Love Song" (Victor 20067, August 5, 1925), but it was fellow Texan Jules Verne Allen's 1929 "Cowboy's Love Song" (Victor 40167, March 28, 1929), that gave the song its greatest popularity. Allen himself thought the song was from Pennsylvania, perhaps brought over from Europe.
recorded "Red River Valley" under the title "Bright Sherman Valley" (Victor 20527 9 June 1926).
Woody Guthrie
recorded "Red River Valley" for Asch Recordings 19 April 1944.
Bill Haley and the Four Aces of Western Swing
recorded a version in the late 1940s.
In the 1950s Peter Pan Records
issued "Red River Valley" on an extended play 45 which also featured "The Arkansas Traveler" and on the other side "My Grandfather's Clock
" and "The Syncopated Clock
".
Jo Stafford
and the Starlighters released a version in October in 1949. Stafford re-recorded the song for her 1953 Starring Jo Stafford album.
The tune of "Red River Valley" was used for the verses of the 1963 Connie Francis
hit "Drownin' My Sorrows" (#36). Francis had recorded "Red River Valley" for her 1961 album release Connie Francis Sings Folk Song Favorites
with the track subsequently being featured on the 1964 Connie Francis album In the Summer of His Years. "Drownin' My Sorrows" was covered in German as "Ich tausche mit keinem auf der Welt" in 1964 by Margot Eskens
and in Croatian as "Uz Tebe Sam Sretna" in 1968 by Ana Štefok.
The premier Czech vocalist Helena Vondráčková
made her recording debut in September 1964 with "Červená řeka", a rendering of "Red River Valley".
The tune to "Red River Valley", set to new lyrics and entitled "Can I Sleep In Your Arms", was used on Willie Nelson
's 1975 album Red Headed Stranger
.
Slim Whitman
's version was included on his 1977 #1 UK album Red River Valley.
"Red River Valley" has also been recorded by Roy Acuff
, Lynn Anderson
, the Andrews Sisters
, Eddy Arnold
, Gene Autry
, Moe Bandy
, Johnny Bond
, Boxcar Willie
, Elton Britt
, Josephine Cameron, John Darnielle
, Foster & Allen
, Larry Groce
, the McGuire Sisters
, the Mills Brothers, Michael Martin Murphey
, Johnnie Ray
, Riders in the Sky, Riders of the Purple Sage
, Marty Robbins
, Jimmie Rodgers
, Roy Rogers
, Pete Seeger
, the Sons of the Pioneers, Billy Walker
, Roger Whittaker
, Cassandra Wilson
and Glenn Yarbrough
.
Johnny Cash
wrote and performed a humorous song entitled "Please Don't Play Red River Valley" for his 1966 album Everybody Loves a Nut
.
Leonard Cohen, a life-long country music enthusiast, has been recorded playing the song live in concert.
The song and tune have been used in numerous films. It was particularly memorable in John Ford
's The Grapes of Wrath
, whose tale of displaced Oklahomans associated it with the southern Red River
. Another film it had important - but more subtle - useage in was The Last Picture Show
, a film about the internal decay of small town Texas
in the early 1950s.
Johnny and the Hurricanes
recorded a rock and roll
instrumental version in 1959 of the song entitled "Red River Rock" which became a hit in both the U.S. (#5) and in the UK (#3). It was covered by the Ventures
for their 1963 album The Ventures Play Telstar and The Lonely Bull
. An electronic rendition
was recorded by Silicon Teens
, and featured in the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
WW2 British Paratroopers used the tune, with the fatalistic chorus -
So come stand by the bar with your glasses,
Drink a toast of the men of the sky,
Drink a toast to the men dead already,
THREE CHEERS FOR THE NEXT MAN TO DIE !
Roud Folk Song Index
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...
756, and by Edith Fowke
Edith Fowke
Edith Fowke, was a Canadian folklorist. Born on April 30, 1913, in Lumsden, Saskatchewan, she was educated at the University of Saskatchewan. She hosted the CBC Radio program Folk Song Time from 1950 to 1963...
as FO 13. It is recognizable by its chorus (with several variations):
- From this valley they say you are going.
- We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile,
- For they say you are taking the sunshine
- That has brightened our pathway a while.
- So come sit by my side if you love me.
- Do not hasten to bid me adieu.
- Just remember the Red River Valley,
- And the one that has loved you so true.
Origins
Edith FowkeEdith Fowke
Edith Fowke, was a Canadian folklorist. Born on April 30, 1913, in Lumsden, Saskatchewan, she was educated at the University of Saskatchewan. She hosted the CBC Radio program Folk Song Time from 1950 to 1963...
offers anecdotal evidence that the song was known in at least five Canadian provinces before 1896. This finding led to speculation that the song was composed at the time of the Wolseley Expedition
Wolseley Expedition
The Wolseley Expedition was a military force authorized by Sir John A. Macdonald to confront Louis Riel and the Métis in 1870, during the Red River Rebellion, at the Red River Settlement in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba...
to the northern Red River Valley
Red River Valley
The Red River Valley is a region in central North America that is drained by the Red River of the North. It is significant in the geography of North Dakota, Minnesota, and Manitoba for its relatively fertile lands and the population centers of Fargo, Moorhead, Grand Forks, and Winnipeg...
of 1870 in Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
. It expresses the sorrow of a local man or woman (possibly a Métis
Métis
A Métis is a person born to parents who belong to different groups defined by visible physical differences, regarded as racial, or the descendant of such persons. The term is of French origin, and also is a cognate of mestizo in Spanish, mestiço in Portuguese, and mestee in English...
, meaning of French and aboriginal origin) as her soldier/lover prepares to return to Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
or as his girlfriend or wife can't take the harsh life in Texas and leaves him to return to Canada..
The earliest written manuscript of the lyrics, titled "Red River Valley", bears the notations 1879 and 1885 in locations Nemha and Harlan
Harlan, Iowa
Harlan is a city in Shelby County, Iowa, United States, along the West Nishnabotna River. The population was 5,282 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Shelby County.-History:...
in western Iowa, so it probably dates to at least that era.
The song appears in sheet music, titled "In the Bright Mohawk Valley", printed in New York in 1896 with James J. Kerrigan as the writer.
In 1925, Carl T. Sprague
Carl T. Sprague
Carl T. "Doc" Sprague was an American country musician. He was often dubbed "The Original Singing Cowboy". Sprague was one of the first country musicians on record, recording in the early 1920s.-Biography:...
, an early singing cowboy
Singing cowboy
A singing cowboy was a subtype of the archetypal cowboy hero of early Western films, popularized by many of the B-movies of the 1930s and 1940s...
from Texas, recorded it as "Cowboy Love Song" (Victor 20067, August 5, 1925), but it was fellow Texan Jules Verne Allen's 1929 "Cowboy's Love Song" (Victor 40167, March 28, 1929), that gave the song its greatest popularity. Allen himself thought the song was from Pennsylvania, perhaps brought over from Europe.
Recordings/ Performances
Kelly HarrellKelly Harrell
Kelly Harrell was a country music singer in the 1920s. He recorded more than a dozen songs for OKeh and Victor Records and wrote songs which were recorded by other artists, including Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest Stoneman, in his own lifetime.-Biography:Harrell was born in Draper's Valley, Wythe...
recorded "Red River Valley" under the title "Bright Sherman Valley" (Victor 20527 9 June 1926).
Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
recorded "Red River Valley" for Asch Recordings 19 April 1944.
Bill Haley and the Four Aces of Western Swing
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
recorded a version in the late 1940s.
In the 1950s Peter Pan Records
Peter Pan Records
Peter Pan Records is a record label specializing in children's music. It was created in the late 1940s. The label was owned by the Synthetic Plastics Company of Newark, New Jersey until the 1970s....
issued "Red River Valley" on an extended play 45 which also featured "The Arkansas Traveler" and on the other side "My Grandfather's Clock
My Grandfather's Clock
"My Grandfather's Clock" is a song written in 1876 by Henry Clay Work, the author of "Marching Through Georgia". It is a standard of British brass bands and colliery bands, and is also popular in bluegrass music.-Origin of the song:...
" and "The Syncopated Clock
The Syncopated Clock
"The Syncopated Clock" is a piece of light music by American composer Leroy Anderson, which has become a feature of the pops orchestra repertoire.-Composition:...
".
Jo Stafford
Jo Stafford
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards and occasional actress whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s...
and the Starlighters released a version in October in 1949. Stafford re-recorded the song for her 1953 Starring Jo Stafford album.
The tune of "Red River Valley" was used for the verses of the 1963 Connie Francis
Connie Francis
Connie Francis is an American pop singer of Italian heritage and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1950s and 1960s. Although her chart success waned in the second half of the 1960s, Francis remained a top concert draw...
hit "Drownin' My Sorrows" (#36). Francis had recorded "Red River Valley" for her 1961 album release Connie Francis Sings Folk Song Favorites
Connie Francis Sings Folk Song Favorites
Connie Francis sings Folk Song Favorites is a studio album of Folk Song recorded by U. S. Entertainer Connie Francis.The album was recorded on August 8 and 9, 1961, at Owen Bradley's studio Bradley Film & Recording in Nashville. Arrangements were provided by Cliff Parman who also conducted the...
with the track subsequently being featured on the 1964 Connie Francis album In the Summer of His Years. "Drownin' My Sorrows" was covered in German as "Ich tausche mit keinem auf der Welt" in 1964 by Margot Eskens
Margot Eskens
Margot Eskens is a German Schlager singer, most popular in the 1950s and 1960s. She continued to be a frequent guest on television programs into the 2000s....
and in Croatian as "Uz Tebe Sam Sretna" in 1968 by Ana Štefok.
The premier Czech vocalist Helena Vondráčková
Helena Vondrácková
Helena Vondráčková is a Czech singer whose career has spanned five decades.- Early life/career :Vondráčková spent her childhood years in the town of Slatinany. She took piano lessons from an early age...
made her recording debut in September 1964 with "Červená řeka", a rendering of "Red River Valley".
The tune to "Red River Valley", set to new lyrics and entitled "Can I Sleep In Your Arms", was used on Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
's 1975 album Red Headed Stranger
Red Headed Stranger
Red Headed Stranger is a 1975 album by American outlaw country singer Willie Nelson. After the wide success of his recordings with Atlantic records, Nelson signed a contract with Columbia Records, a label that gave him total creative control over his works...
.
Slim Whitman
Slim Whitman
Ottis Dewey Whitman, Jr. , known professionally as Slim Whitman, is an American country music singer and songwriter, known for his yodelling abilities. He has sold in excess of 120 million albums in unit sales and has had numerous successful recordings...
's version was included on his 1977 #1 UK album Red River Valley.
"Red River Valley" has also been recorded by Roy Acuff
Roy Acuff
Roy Claxton Acuff was an American country music singer, fiddler, and promoter. Known as the King of Country Music, Acuff is often credited with moving the genre from its early string band and "hoedown" format to the star singer-based format that helped make it internationally successful.Acuff...
, Lynn Anderson
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...
, the Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters were a highly successful close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews , soprano Maxene Angelyn Andrews , and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie "Patty" Andrews...
, Eddy Arnold
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...
, Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
, Moe Bandy
Moe Bandy
Marion Franklin Bandy, Jr.–better known professionally as Moe Bandy– is a country music singer...
, Johnny Bond
Johnny Bond
Cyrus Whitfield Bond , known professionally as Johnny Bond, was a popular American country music entertainer of the 1940s through the 1960s.-Biography:...
, Boxcar Willie
Boxcar Willie
Boxcar Willie, born as Lecil Travis Martin was an American country music singer, who sang in the "old-time hobo" music style, complete with dirty face, overalls, and a floppy hat...
, Elton Britt
Elton Britt
Elton Britt , born James Elton Baker, was a country music guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Biography:Elton Britt was born in Searcy County, Arkansas...
, Josephine Cameron, John Darnielle
John Darnielle
John Darnielle is an American musician, best known as the primary member of the American band The Mountain Goats, for which he is the writer, composer, guitarist, and vocalist.-Places Darnielle has lived:...
, Foster & Allen
Foster & Allen
Foster and Allen are a musical duo from Ireland consisting of Mick Foster and Tony Allen.-History:Foster and Allen began back in the 1970s when Foster and Allen were playing in country music bands around Ireland...
, Larry Groce
Larry Groce
Larry Groce is an American singer-songwriter and radio host. Since 1983, Groce has served as the host and artistic director of Mountain Stage, a two-hour live music program produced by West Virginia Public Radio and distributed by NPR. He first entered the national spotlight in 1976 when his...
, the McGuire Sisters
The McGuire Sisters
The McGuire Sisters were a singing trio in American popular music. The group was composed of three sisters: Christine McGuire , Dorothy McGuire , and Phyllis McGuire...
, the Mills Brothers, Michael Martin Murphey
Michael Martin Murphey
Michael Martin Murphey is an American singer-songwriter best known for writing and performing Western music, Country music, and Popular music. A multiple Grammy nominee, Murphey has six gold albums, including Cowboy Songs, the first album of cowboy music to achieve gold status since Gunfighter...
, Johnnie Ray
Johnnie Ray
Johnnie Ray was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor of what would become rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music and his animated stage personality.-Early life:John Alvin Ray was born in...
, Riders in the Sky, Riders of the Purple Sage
Riders of the Purple Sage (band)
Riders of the Purple Sage was a name used by three separate western bands in the United States.The original Riders of the Purple Sage was formed in 1936 by singer and guitarist Buck Page. The group spent three years as the staff band for radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh, performing five hour-long...
, Marty Robbins
Marty Robbins
Martin David Robinson , known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...
, Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers (pop singer)
James Frederick "Jimmie" Rodgers is an American singer. He is not related to the country singer of the same name.-Career:...
, Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers
Roy Rogers, born Leonard Franklin Slye , was an American singer and cowboy actor, one of the most heavily marketed and merchandised stars of his era, as well as being the namesake of the Roy Rogers Restaurants franchised chain...
, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, the Sons of the Pioneers, Billy Walker
Billy Walker
William Henry "Billy" Walker was a prominent English footballer of the 1920s and 1930s. He is considered by many to be the greatest footballer to ever play for Aston Villa Football Club-Biography:...
, Roger Whittaker
Roger Whittaker
Roger Whittaker is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician with worldwide record sales of over 55 million. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability...
, Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson
Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her...
and Glenn Yarbrough
Glenn Yarbrough
Glenn Yarbrough is an American folk singer. He was the lead singer with The Limeliters between 1959 and 1963, and had a prolific solo career, recording on various labels.-Biography:...
.
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
wrote and performed a humorous song entitled "Please Don't Play Red River Valley" for his 1966 album Everybody Loves a Nut
Everybody Loves a Nut
Everybody Loves a Nut is the twenty-second album by American country singer Johnny Cash, released by Columbia Records in the United States in 1966...
.
Leonard Cohen, a life-long country music enthusiast, has been recorded playing the song live in concert.
The song and tune have been used in numerous films. It was particularly memorable in John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
's The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath (film)
The Grapes of Wrath is a 1940 drama film directed by John Ford. It was based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Nunnally Johnson and the executive producer was Darryl F...
, whose tale of displaced Oklahomans associated it with the southern Red River
Red River (Mississippi watershed)
The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers in the southern United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name...
. Another film it had important - but more subtle - useage in was The Last Picture Show
The Last Picture Show
The Last Picture Show is a 1971 American drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich, adapted from a semi-autobiographical 1966 novel of the same name by Larry McMurtry....
, a film about the internal decay of small town Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in the early 1950s.
Johnny and the Hurricanes
Johnny and the Hurricanes
Johnny and the Hurricanes was a rock and roll band that began as The Orbits in Toledo, Ohio in 1957. Led by saxophonist Johnny Paris , they were school friends who played on a few recordings behind Mack Vickery, a local rockabilly singer.-Career:They signed with Harry Balk and Irving Micahnik of...
recorded a rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
instrumental version in 1959 of the song entitled "Red River Rock" which became a hit in both the U.S. (#5) and in the UK (#3). It was covered by the Ventures
The Ventures
The Ventures is an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. Founded by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the group in its various incarnations has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. With over 100 million records sold, the group is the best-selling...
for their 1963 album The Ventures Play Telstar and The Lonely Bull
The Ventures Play Telstar and The Lonely Bull
The Ventures Play Telstar and the Lonely Bull is a 1963 album by the band the Ventures.-Personnel:As written on the back cover*Don Wilson - rhythm and lead guitar*Bob Bogle - lead guitar, bass guitar*Nokie Edwards - lead guitar...
. An electronic rendition
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
was recorded by Silicon Teens
Silicon Teens
Silicon Teens were a virtual British electronic new wave pop group. The project was the creation of Mute Records founder Daniel Miller.-Background:...
, and featured in the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
WW2 British Paratroopers used the tune, with the fatalistic chorus -
So come stand by the bar with your glasses,
Drink a toast of the men of the sky,
Drink a toast to the men dead already,
THREE CHEERS FOR THE NEXT MAN TO DIE !
External links
- Lyrics and MIDI file from the National Institutes of HealthNational Institutes of HealthThe National Institutes of Health are an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and are the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and health-related research. Its science and engineering counterpart is the National Science Foundation...
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/redriver.htm - The free score on www.traditional-songs.com