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Darling Nelly Gray
American, Air and Dance Tune- Widely Circulated; by Benjamin Russell Hanby
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes. DATE: 1856.
OTHER NAMES: “Darlin’ Nelly Gray,” "Old Nelly Grey," “Oh My Darlin’ Nelly Gray,” “The Eumerella Shore (same melody)" “Charming Nellie Ray”
RECORDING INFO: The Carver Boys, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Paramount 3198, 1930) Asa Martin, "Darling Nellie Gray" (Banner 32306, 1931); Berst, Mike. Favorite American Melodies, Vol. 1, Berst TT 01, Cas (1988), cut# 2; Boarman, Andrew F. Mountain State Music, June Appal JA 0025, LP (1978), cut# 17; Bovee, Bob; and Gail Heil. Rural Route 2, Marimac 9066, CD (1996), cut#10; Boyd, Tom. White Eyes Music Club. Traditional Music in Southeastern Ohio, Western Kentucky Univ. WKU #1, LP (1977), cut#A.09; Clifton, Bill. Autoharp Centennial Celebration, Clifton, Cas (1980), cut# 4; Creed, Kyle. Clawhammer Banjo, County 701, LP (1965), cut# 3; Creed, Kyle. Liberty, Heritage (Galax) 028 (XXVIII), LP (1977), cut#A.01 (Nelly Gray/Grey); Ensign, Bob; and the Stump Jumpers. Mountain Guitar Pickin', Rural Rhythm RRBE 255, LP (197?), cut#A.06; Fluharty, Russell. West Virginia Heritage, Page SLP 601, LP (197?), cut#A.04 (Nelly Gray/Grey); George, Franklin/Frank. Swope's Knobs, Anachronistic 001, LP (1977), cut#3.06a; Howes, Clyde. Old-Time Banjo Anthology, Vol. 2, Marimac AHS 5, Cas (1991), cut# 1 (Nelly Gray/Grey); Hurricane Ridgerunners. Hurricane Ridgerunners, Topaz TLS-1231, LP (1981), cut#B.05; Naiman, Arnie; and Chris Coole. 5 Strings Attached with No Backing, Merriweather, CD (1997), cut# 6; O'Connor, Attwood. Fiddlers of Eastern Prince Edward Island, Rounder 7015, CD (1997), cut#29 (Nelly Gray/Grey); Sumner, Marion. Road To Home, June Appal JA 0030, LP (1979), cut# 6
RELATED TO: “Maggie May,” “Dear Prairie Home,”
SOURCES: Johnny Morrissey (1913-1994, Newtown Cross, Queens County, Prince Edward Island; late of Vernon River) [Perlman]; Art Coss (Woodland Valley, Catskill Mtns., New York) [Cazden]. Cazden (Dances from Woodland), 1945; pg. 7. Jarman (The Cornhuskers Book of Square Dance Tunes), 1944; pgs. 22-23. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; pg. 30. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician's No. 7: Michigan Tunes), Vol. 7, 1986-87; pg. 9. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 154. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 13. Jerry Silverman’s Old-time Fiddle Tunes. RJackson-19CPop, pp. 53-56, "Darling Nelly Gray". Silber-FSWB, p. 251, "Darling Nelly Gray" Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES: "B Flat Major (Jarman): G Major (Perlman, Sweet): D Major (Johnson). Standard. AB (Johnson, Sweet): AA'B (Perlman): AABB (Jarman)." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
NOTES ABOUT HANBY: Benjamin Russell Hanby was born in the small town of Rushville, Ohio, southeast of Columbus, in 1833. He composed "Darling Nellie Gray" in 1856 while attending Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. A runaway slave named Joseph Shelby died at the Ohio home of Hanby's father. Shelby was hoping to raise money to win the freedom of another slave named Nelly Gray. Weaving together the lamentations of a lover with the evils of slavery, it gained immediate popularity and became his best known song. Hanby had sent his composition to a music publishing house in Boston. When the melody swept the nation, he asked for royalties. The publisher reportedly wrote back to Hanby that he had the fame and they had the money and that balanced the account! Hanby died in 1867 in Chicago where he worked for Root & Cady, music publishers. He also wrote "Santa Claus, or Up on the House Top."
LYRICS:
There's a low, green, valley on the old Kentucky shore
Where I've whiled many happy hours away,
Just a sittin' and a singin' by the little cottage door
Where lived my darling Nellie Gray.
When the moon had climbed the mountain, and the stars were shinin' too
Then I'd take my darling Nellie Gray
And we'd go floatin’ down the river in my little red canoe
While my banjo sweetly I would play.
One night I went to see her, but she's gone the neighbors say
And the white man had bound her with his chain.
They have taken her to Georgia for to wear her life away
As she toils in the cotton and the cane.
Oh, my poor Nellie Gray, they have taken you away
And I'll never see my darling, anymore.
I'm sittin' by the river and a weepin' all the day
For you've gone from the old Kentucky shore.
Now my canoe is under water, and my banjo is unstrung
I am tired of livin', anymore.
My eyes shall be cast downward, and my songs will be unsung
While I stay on the old Kentucky shore.
Now I'm getting old and feeble, and I cannot see my way
I can hear someone knockin' on my door.
I can hear the angels singin', and I see my Nellie Gray
So farewell to the old Kentucky shore.
Oh, my darling Nellie Gray, up in heaven, so they say
And they'll never take you from me, anymore.
I'm comin', comin', comin', as the angels clear the way
So farewell to the old Kentucky shore.
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