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Ashoken Farewell
Words Source Gary Dodee; tune Jay Ungar; Air or Waltz (3/4 time).
ARTIST: Words Source Gary Dodee; tune Jay Ungar;
Listen: Ashoken Farewell/ The Red Barron/The Banchee- (fiddle: Julia Kwolyk, bouron: Brian Lupo)
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1982
RECORDING INFO: Flying Fish, "The Best of Fiddle Fever." recorded by Priscilla Herdman on "Forever & Always" on Flying Fish records.
OTHER NAMES: The 'folk process' has yielded several titles based on miss-hearings of the word Ashokan, including "The Choking Farewell," and "I'm Choking, Farewell."
SOURCES: Matthiesen (The Waltz Book), 1992; pg. 14. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 238. Various sets of words have been attached to the tune, including ones by Grian MacGregor, written in 1991 and sung by Priscilla Herdman, on her Flying Fish Records CD "Forever & Always."
NOTES: "D Major. Standard. AA'B. Mr. Ungar has authorized tow set of lyrics (See: Versions 1&2). This is an unauthorized set, more bluegrass oriented. The tune was chosen by Ken Burns as the theme for 1992's celebrated PBS series "The Civil War." However, rather than a melody from that era it is a 1983 Grammy winning composition by fiddler Jay Ungar (West Hurley, New York), and the "goodbye" tune composed in 1982 for the music and dance camp run by he and Molly Mason at Ashokan, New York. The name Ashokan first appears in Dutch records from the 17th century and may be a corruption of an Indian word. The town of Ashokan itself was largely inundated by the vast Ashokan Reservoir, one of New York City's watersheds in the Catskill Mountains." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
Verse 1: Whenever I'm alone and hear that lonesome fiddle,
it carries me back to a time long ago
and to the days of our past when we were so happy
each day was springtime we loved each other so.
Chorus: There are songs about love, songs about beauty,
songs with a story we all love so well,
songs we love best are songs about sad times.
The saddest of all is Ashoken Farewell.
Verse 2: We can never go back to a time lost forever,
I'm all alone with a sad memory.
You found a new love, yet I still remember
when you whispered softly you loved only me.
Chorus: Now the music goes on as my tears start falling,
telling of sad times we all know so well.
My love is gone, my heart is broken.
The fiddle keeps playing Ashoken Farewell.
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