====== #144 - Darling Nelly Gray ======
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/*-20note-*/
  *Composer:
    *Benjamin Russell Hanby (1833-1867), 1856
    *The entry for this cob in this Cobography previously gave the date of the piece as 1863. This is clearly incorrect, however, as there is a copy of sheet music for the piece with a copyright date of 1856 in the Historic American Sheet Music Collection in the Duke University Digital Collections. This copy may be viewed online at repository.duke.edu. (Corrected by R.D., 4/3/21)
  *Title variations:
    *Nelly Gray
    *Nellie Gray
  *[[:alternate]]
  *[[photos]]
  *[[/data/media/midi/144.mid|MIDI]] | ++show|\\ {{http://www.rollerorgans.com/mid2roll.php?cob=144&.gif?}}++
  *[[:incipit]]: 7122327651234543222327546
  *[[:incipit|Condensed Incipit]]: 7123276512345432327546
  *[[/cob_label/index.php|Print a Label]]
  *++Lyrics:|\\
There's a low green valley\\
On the old Kentucky shore,\\
There I've 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'm a sitting by the river\\
And I'm weeping all the day,\\
For you've gone from the old Kentucky shore.\\
\\
When the moon had climb'd 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 under water\\
And my banjo is unstrung\\
I'm tired of living anymore;\\
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 someone knocking at my door;\\
Oh! I hear the angels calling\\
And I see my Nelly Gray\\
Farewell to the old Kentucky shore.\\
\\
//chorus: //\\
Oh, my darling Nelly Gray,\\
Up in heaven there they say\\
That they'll never take you from me any more;\\
I'm a-coming, coming coming\\
As the angels clear the way\\
Farewell to the old Kentucky shore.\\
\\
++
    *Benjamin Russell Hanby (1833-1867), 1856