Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 6 days 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 Fare You Well, My Own True Love, The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, and Turtle Dove."
TBI continues: "The problem is, what to do with all the lost love pieces *with* some hint of a plot plus the floating element "Who will shoe your pretty little foot." After some hesitation, we decided on a four-part primary division (with some exceptions):
* "The Lass of Roch Royal" for the ballad of that title
* "Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot" for fragments too short to classify at all
* "Mary Anne" for the versions specifically about that girl
* This, for everything else.
There probably are recensional variants within this song family; it's just too big and too complex. But the particular items are such a mess that we finally gave up trying to sort them."
Red Rosy Bush, listed in this category, along with He's Gone Away, was collected by Anne and Frank Warner in their Traditional American Folk Songs (1984).
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 Fare You Well, My Own True Love, The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, and Turtle Dove."
TBI continues: "The problem is, what to do with all the lost love pieces *with* some hint of a plot plus the floating element "Who will shoe your pretty little foot." After some hesitation, we decided on a four-part primary division (with some exceptions):
* "The Lass of Roch Royal" for the ballad of that title
* "Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot" for fragments too short to classify at all
* "Mary Anne" for the versions specifically about that girl
* This, for everything else.
There probably are recensional variants within this song family; it's just too big and too complex. But the particular items are such a mess that we finally gave up trying to sort them."
Red Rosy Bush, listed in this category, along with He's Gone Away, was collected by Anne and Frank Warner in their Traditional American Folk Songs (1984).
There are tentacles going back to the British Isles, but this will be elaborated upon at a later date.
