lord have mercy on my mind mercy on my memory i m lying neath the same virginia sky where she lay beside me biding time trying to abide me every night when the night was long she was clinging to me told me twice that her love was strong stronger than the love in old love songs she was singing to me o shenandoah cross the rolling water o shenandoah where s your restless daughter don t know what i gave them for all my little lessons how you start the peas before the corn how you start before the air is warm she was never listening i could see it there in her sorry eyes hear it in her breathing didn t come to me like some surprise didn t even ask her why when she said i m leaving o shenandoah cross the rolling water o shenandoah where s your willful daughter i brought in the winter squash i brought in the melon cortland empire macintosh on the afternoon before the frost i could feel it coming i can see her now in her flowery clothes all of those things i bought her trailing her perfume wherever she goes cross the rolling water shenandoah where s your reckless daughter shenandoah mercy on your daughter