Lord have mercy on my mind,
mercy on my memory.
I'm lying beneath the same Virginia sky
Where she laid beside me, biding time.
Trying to abide me.
Every night when the night was long, she was clinging to me.
Told me twice that her love was strong, stronger than the love in old love songs she was singing to me.
Oh, Shenandoah, 'cross the rolling water.
Oh, Shenandoah, where's your restless daughter?
Don't know what I gave them for,
all my little lessons.
How you start the peas before the corn,
how you start before the air is warm.
She was never listenin'.
I could see there in her sorry eyes,
hear it in her breathing.
Didn't come to me like some surprise, didn't even ask her why,
When she said "I'm leavin."
Oh, Shenandoah,
cross the rolling water.
Oh, Shenandoah, where's your willful daughter?
I brought in the winter squash,
I brought in the melon.
Cortland, Empire, Macintosh,
On the afternoon before the frost.
I could feel it coming.
I can see her now in the flowery clothes,
all those things I bought her.
Trailing her perfume wherever she goes,
'cross the rolling water, Shenandoah,
Where's your reckless daughter?
Shenandoah, mercy on your daughter.