There's a low, green, valley on the old Kentucky shore
Where I've whiled many happy hours away,
Just a sitting and a singing by the little cottage door
Where lived my darling Nellie Gray

When the moon had climbed the mountain, and the stars were shining too
Then I'd take my darling Nellie Gray
And we'd go floatin down the river in my little red canoe
While my banjo sweetly I would play

One night I went to see her, but she's gone the neighbors say
And the white man had 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

   Oh, my poor Nellie Gray, they have taken you away
   And I'll never see my darling, anymore
   I'm sitting by the river and a weeping all the day
   For you've gone from the old Kentucky shore

Now my canoe is under water, and my banjo is unstrung
I am tired of living, anymore
My eyes shall be cast downward, and my songs will be unsung
While I stay on the old Kentucky shore

Now I'm getting old and feeble, and I cannot see my way
I can hear someone knocking on my door
I can hear the angels singing, and I see my Nellie Gray
So farewell to the old Kentucky shore


   Oh, my darling Nellie Gray, up in heaven, so they say
   And they'll never take you from me, anymore
   I'm coming, coming, coming, as the angels clear the way
   So farewell to the old Kentucky shore