This simple but touching song tells the story of a Tennessee slave who runs away from his master but now wonders if the price of his new-found freedom (the loss of his one true love) was too high to pay.

The use of the phrase "friends of yellow corn" instead of "fields of yellow corn" in the chorus would appear to be a misprint, although "friends" is used consistently in the 1865 sheet music, from which these lyrics were taken.

Although the song never enjoyed enormous popularity in this country, it migrated across the sea to South Africa and became the basis for a well-known song of the Boer War period (1899-1902), "My Sarie Marais Is So Ver Van My Hart."


"Ellie Rhee"