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Ashoken Farewell
Words by Cleo Laine and John Dankworth ; tune Jay Ungar; Air or Waltz (3/4 time).
ARTIST: Cleo Laine "A Beautiful Thing", RCA 09026-61664-2;
Listen: Ashoken Farewell/ The Red Barron/The Banchee- (fiddle: Julia Kwolyk, bouron: Brian Lupo)
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: Tune-1982
RECORDING INFO: Flying Fish, "The Best of Fiddle Fever." recorded by Priscilla Herdman on "Forever & Always" on Flying Fish records.
OTHER NAMES: The 'folk process' has yielded several titles based on miss-hearings of the word Ashokan, including "The Choking Farewell," and "I'm Choking, Farewell."
SOURCES: Matthiesen (The Waltz Book), 1992; pg. 14. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 238. Various sets of words have been attached to the tune, including ones by Grian MacGregor, written in 1991 and sung by Priscilla Herdman, on her Flying Fish Records CD "Forever & Always."
NOTES: "D Major. Standard. AA'B. One of two lyrics that Mr. Ungar has authorized. The other being the Macgregor lyrics- Version 1. The tune was chosen by Ken Burns as the theme for 1992's celebrated PBS series "The Civil War." However, rather than a melody from that era it is a 1983 Grammy winning composition by fiddler Jay Ungar (West Hurley, New York), and the "goodbye" tune composed in 1982 for the music and dance camp run by he and Molly Mason at Ashokan, New York. The name Ashokan first appears in Dutch records from the 17th century and may be a corruption of an Indian word. The town of Ashokan itself was largely inundated by the vast Ashokan Reservoir, one of New York City's watersheds in the Catskill Mountains." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
I can see the distant light, hear the music all surrounding,
That shatters the silence so heavy to bear,
Lifts my soul into the night, fills my heart with love abounding
And brings me the peace we all surely will share.
Though it's time for farewell, the time for the parting,
What ever the dawn may bring,
You'll be part of my heart, each living moment,
Come summer, come autumn, come winter, come spring.
Alternate lyrics:
HE: Just as sure as the snow flies again in December,
As sure as the wild rose appears in the spring,
Just so surely your soldier will return to his lady,
Gifts for her wedding that day he will bring.
SHE: The snow of December has frozen my heart, love,
The wild rose's fever is burning my brow;
You've the look in your eyes of a man who is fated;
If ever you wed me, John, let it be now.
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