Darling Nelly Gray

There's a low green valley on the old Kentucky shore
There I whiled many happy hours away
A sitting and a singing by the little cottage door
Where lived my darling Nelly Gray

Chorus
Oh my poor Nelly Gray, they have taken you away
And I'll never see my darling any more
I am sitting by the river and I'm weeping all the day
For you've gone from the old Kentucky shore

When the moon had climbed the mountain and the stars were shining too
Then I'd take my darling Nelly Gray
And we'd float 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
The white man 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

My canoe is underwater and my banjo is unstrung
I'm tired of living any more
My eyes shall look downward and my songs shall be unsung
While I stay on the old Kentucky shore

My eyes are getting blinded and I cannot see my way
Hark, there's somebody knocking at the door
Oh, I hear the angels calling and I see my Nelly Gray
Farewell to the old Kentucky shore

Chorus, last
Oh my darling Nelly Gray, up in heaven, there they say
That they'll never take you from me anymore
I'm a-coming, coming, coming, as the angels clear the way
Farewell to the old Kentucky shore