Darling Nelly Ray

Darling Nelly Gray.
Composer: B. R. HANBY.
Published 1856, by Oliver Ditson (Boston)

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.
 
Oh! my poor Nelly Gray, they have taken you away,
And I'll never see my darling any more,
I'm 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 nightI 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 any more,
My eyes shall look downward and my song 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 somebody knocking at the door -
Oh! I hear the angels calling, and I see my Nelly Gray,
Farewell to the old Kentucky shore.

[Chorus to the last verse]
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.

I’m not claiming this as a “Music Hall Song” – though undoubtedly it will have been sung in the Halls. It’s a pre-Civil War, campaigning abolitionist piece which was imported into Britain as a blackface minstrel song . I think it’s an important song because of its political impact in promoting the abolition of slavery. For those of us interested in the Halls it also plays a key part in the history of at least two Music Hall songs (details to follow).

Darling Nelly Gray has been found in the repertoire of at least 34 traditional singers – most of whom (26) were in the USA and Canada. Nonetheless it shows some popularity amongst English and Irish singers like Cliff Rowe, Ruby Ling, Harry Scott and others. The song is something of an American standard, with 20th century recordings by Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, George Lewis and others.

It was as a campaigning anti-slavery song, written in 1856 by Benjamin Hanby, an American songwriter, abolitionist and preacher. It tells the story of an escaped slave, inspired by Hanby’s encounter with Joseph Selby: “who died at the Hanby home in Rushville after relating the moving story of his escape to freedom and having to leave behind his lost love, Nelly Gray.“ Hanby sang the song to his friends, family and his music teacher – who persuaded him to send it to a music publisher. The publisher (Ditson), unbeknownst to Hanby, had a massive hit with it – in the late 1850s in the USA multiple editions of the sheet music were published (this was in the lead up to the Civil War). It was sung at Temperance Halls, young ladies Seminaries, and all the places where respectable middle class music might be heard in the Northern States.

A few months later when Hanby learnt of the success of his song, he wrote to the publisher to ask about royalties, Ditson replied:

Dear Sir: Your [letter] received. ‘Nelly Gray’ is sung on both sides of the Atlantic. We have made the money and you the fame – that balances the account.

Songs and History, Pasadena Star, March 27, 1913. Newspapers.com

Sadly this dismissive attitude to the songwriter’s worth is typical of the attitudes of music publishers on both sides of the Atlantic in the 19th century.

In the Britain and Ireland the song was sung by black-face minstrel performers, most notably The Christy Minstrels who started performing it in 1859. In the UK the song remained part of the black -face minstrel repertoire until the form thankfully died a death in the late 20^th century..

It’s likely that Maggie May (RN1757) was a parody of this song, it is usually sung to the same tune. Keep your feet still Geordie hinney (RN6862) was also sung to the same tune.

[see also RN679 ] [Neither song seems to be related to the Music Hall so0ng called Nelly Ray (RN12610) and Little Maggie May (RN

Burl Ives sings it

Sources:

• Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A4883

• Ballad Index
• Mudcat Thread
• Kilgarrif Sing Us
• Lyrics and US Sheet Music: Levy Collection

Last Updated on March 20, 2026 by John Baxter | Published: March 11, 2026