Oh Shenandoah what is the matter?
Hooray you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah what is the matter?
I’m bound away across the wide Missouri.

Oh Shenandoah I love your daughter
Hooray you rolling river
Oh Shenandoah I love your daughter
I’m bound away across the wide Missouri.

‘Twas seven years before we married
Hooray you rolling river
‘Twas seven years before we married
I’m bound away across the wide Missouri.

I leave my wife in Tennessee
Hooray you rolling river
I leave my wife in Tennessee
I’m bound away across the wide Missouri.

(IN = CBC interviewer)

IN: Now, Mayor Cates, you’ve mentioned that your father had been brought up in Nova Scotia. Your wife, too, came from here, did she not?

CC: She was born in Advocate. Her name was Suzanne Elliot

IN: Now in these days, Mayor Cates, there was no radio, no unifying influence, so to speak, to see that the songs were sung using the same words and music coast to coast, and I suppose there are many versions of songs. Can you think of one off-hand?

CC: Well, that sometimes aggravates me, a little bit. I don’t know whether I am right or not, but the thing was that in the early days some of these capstan shanties (a capstan was a big barrel-shaped affair with capstan bars, big long spokes that stuck out) and naturally to lift an anchor was slow, heavy work and the shanty or the song with which they kept time had to be, to some extent, slow and it was sung by men who were working hard. They usually had a shantyman sitting on top of the capstan and he would start off and then the rest would join in, kind of a raggedy chorus. Now Captain George W. Robarts of Avondale, he was a wonderful seaman, he was of Avondale, Nova Scotia and he was out in British Columbia, he died out there, and I worked for him for a long time – a wonderful gentleman. And a real old square-rigged sailorman and he used to sing “Shenandoah” to me and I thought it was very beautiful.

IN: And this was in a different version from the “Shenandoah” that we hear nowadays?

CC: Well, not exactly, but I think maybe it will sound a bit different to you: I hope I can do it somewhat like Captain Robarts did. Would you like to hear it?

IN: Yes, indeed, please

CC: That’s the way it went

IN: That was the version of Captain Robarts of Avondale, Nova Scotia

CC: That’s right.