Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
NOTES: "He's Gone Away" from Carl Sandburg's 1927 The American Songbag.
Sandburg begins his first chapter DRAMAS AND PORTRAITS with the song "He's Gone Away." In studying the roots of Sandburg's selection, several songs show up as closely related.
According to The Traditional Ballad Index, "This song (which includes the variation represented in Carl Sandburg's 1927 American Songbag), is officially a catch-all. Other song titles in this category are The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, and Turtle Dove."
Little Turtle Dove, listed in this category was collected by Bascom Lamar Lunsford [who lived just a stones throw from my home] in his 1929 "30 and 1 Folk Songs from the Southern Mountains."
Others collected this song as well, including famed British song-catcher Cecil Sharp who collected nine variants in the Appalachian Mountains from 1916-1918.
Perhaps because of Biblical references (especially verse 2:12 from the Song of Songs: "The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.")... its mournful voice, and the fact that it forms strong pair bonds, European turtle doves have become emblems of devoted love.
There are tentacles going back to the British Isles, but this will be elaborated upon at a later date.
NOTES: "He's Gone Away" from Carl Sandburg's 1927 The American Songbag.
Sandburg begins his first chapter DRAMAS AND PORTRAITS with the song "He's Gone Away." In studying the roots of Sandburg's selection, several songs show up as closely related.
According to The Traditional Ballad Index, "This song (which includes the variation represented in Carl Sandburg's 1927 American Songbag), is officially a catch-all. Other song titles in this category are The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, and Turtle Dove."
Little Turtle Dove, listed in this category was collected by Bascom Lamar Lunsford [who lived just a stones throw from my home] in his 1929 "30 and 1 Folk Songs from the Southern Mountains."
Others collected this song as well, including famed British song-catcher Cecil Sharp who collected nine variants in the Appalachian Mountains from 1916-1918.
Perhaps because of Biblical references (especially verse 2:12 from the Song of Songs: "The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.")... its mournful voice, and the fact that it forms strong pair bonds, European turtle doves have become emblems of devoted love.
There are tentacles going back to the British Isles, but this will be elaborated upon at a later date.
