Stephen Foster Songbook

Songs with sheet music, chords, lyrics & midis

Gentle Annie (1856)

TML # 003803
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The singer reports that it is harvest time, and soon he will be traveling on. He bids farewell to "gentle Annie," the daughter of the farm. He offers her various warnings Stephen Foster's original version is said to be based on Annie Laurie, and is mostly a lyric, but the song has traveled widely. The Australian version, in particular, is heavily localized, and has become a near-ballad of a migrant worker bidding farewell to the (young?) daughter of the household.
Thou will come no more, gentle Annie,
Like a flower thy spirit did depart;
Thou art gone, alas! like the many
That have bloomed in the summer of my heart.

Chorus
Shall we never more be hold thee;
never hear thy winning voice again
When the Spring time comes, gentle Annie,
When the wild flowers are scattered o`er the plain?
We have roamed and loved mid the bowers
When thy downy cheeks in their bloom;
Now I stand alone mid the flowers
While they mingle their perfumes o`er thy tomb.

Ah! the hours grow sad while I ponder
Near the silent spot where thou art laid,
And my heart bows down when I wander
By the streams and the meadows where we strayed.
This royalty free score was generated by the Traditional Music Library On Line Tunebook (Shareware Version). As-is copies of this score may be freely distributed. Further info from WWW.TRADITIONALMUSIC.CO.UK