One of my favourite traditional folk songs is "Oh Shenandoah", set on the Missouri River in North America, and thought to originate in the early nineteenth century with traders who used the waterway. The full story it tells is an uncertain one, but Wikipedia notes the explanation that it is about a trader who fell in love with the daughter of the Oneida Iroquois chief Shenandoah (1710–1816).
The song is also an example of how stories, especially in lyrical form, can consist of glimpses and suggestions rather than a comprehensive narrative. We know everything we need to know in order to empathise with the storyteller.
Click to hear my cover of the song:
Oh Shenandoah,
I long to hear you
Away, you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah, I long to hear you
Away, I'm bound away
Across the wide Missouri
Oh Shenandoah,
I love your daughter
Away, you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah, I love your daughter
Away, I'm bound away
Across the wide Missouri
Oh Shenandoah,
I long to see you
Away, you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you
Away, I'm bound away
Across the wide Missouri
