Notes -

Since childhood, this has been one of my favorite traditional American folk songs.  I suppose the first version I remember is my friend, Pete Seeger's.

The traditional lyrics for this song, like so many traditional lyrics, seem to be a hodge-podge of influences but the earliest ones date from the early 19th century and are about a "white man" who loves the daughter of chief Shenandoah.

The melody has been so beloved that over the decades, other influences came into the lyrics - river-men stealing the chief's daughter, soldiers longing for their home... I once heard a lovely, devastating version that seemed to recall the "Trail of Tears."

But I wanted to tell a focused, succinct story - so I made it into a little love song.

When I sang it for some of my Native American family, they  suggested I say "This Welshman" rather than "This White Man" (the more traditional line) because my heritage is part Welsh and juxtapositioned with the the term "Indian maiden," it seemed to take away any offensive sting.  The term "Blue Days" is a particular Native American term meaning "nights."