“Red River Valley” is a traditional folksong that’s supposed to describe the plight of a Métis woman who falls for an east-coast soldier, member of the 1870 Wolseley expedition sent to put down the Louis Riel-led Red River Rebellion/Resistance…
While strange things happen during times of war, this sounds like a story that probably says more about the colonial imagination than it does about any actual Métis person! (You know, a feminized Indigenous other haplessly desiring an indifferent Canadian military man sure fits well with certain attitudes.)
Of course, it’s also a beautiful song about saying good-bye to someone you love.
The folklorist Edith Fowke was the first one to show that “Red River Valley” came from the Northern Red River and not the southern one that runs through Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, as Americans had been blithely assuming for decades.
This is the words and chords to “Red River Valley” as we do it, for example in this solo video.
Red River Valley
Chorus:
Come and sit by my side if you love me
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
But remember the Red River Valley
And the one who has loved you so true
C G7 C – / – – G7 – / C C7 F – / C G7 C –
1
From this valley they say you are going
We will miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
For they say you are taking the sunshine
Which has brightened our pathway a while
2
It’s a long time, you know, I’ve been waiting
For the words that you never did say
But alas! all my fond hopes have vanished
For they say you are going away
3
As you go to your home by the ocean
May you never forget those sweet hours
That we spent in the Red River Valley
And the love we exchanged ‘midst its bowers
Chords Symbols
Here’s some help deciphering our chord shorthand:
/
A slash divides the chords for one line of lyrics from the next.
—
A dash means repeat the previous chord.
C FG
For an example of a ‘squeeze chord’ like this, you would play the F & G chords in the same amount of time you would play the C. This is a proportional way of indicating the rhythm of chord changes.
”
A quotation mark means repeat the chords from the previous line
1st, 2nd, etc.
Play the chords from the 1st, 2nd, etc., line
Here’s more details and examples, if this isn’t making a lot of sense to you.
Blackgrass 