I have a hometown affection for "Farewell" because I grew up on the Eastern Shore, and attended high school in Petpeswick. Though we don't know who actually wrote it, it's assumed that it was written during W.W.I, when so many were leaving home to sail away to war in a foreign land. This is especially evident in the verse which starts out: "The drums they do beat and the wars to alarm..." Strangely, though the subject matter is somber, the tune is pretty upbeat and definitely catchy. I'm going to post the song being performed by a local group, Sons of Maxwell:
Well, I'm off to our annual family jamboree, which we're holding in New Brunswick this year, so I'm currently on my way to- or have crossed over- the border between our two provinces. When we were kids, my brothers and sisters and I when crossing this border would suck in a big breath, filling our lungs with Nova Scotian air and holding it as long as possible. I occasionally still find myself doing this without thinking... force of habit, I guess. We would also often sing the chorus of "Farewell To Nova Scotia"- after letting our breath out, of course. "Farewell To Nova Scotia" is sort of the unofficial Nova Scotia anthem. No one really knows who wrote it; it was discovered around 1933 by Helen Creighton. Helen Creighton was a well-known folklorist from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She traveled around collecting folk songs, myths and ghost stories from remote little communities all over the province. While on the Eastern Shore, she encountered a woman named Ann Greenough in the small community of Petpeswick, who taught her "Farewell To Nova Scotia". As she visited locations about the Eastern Shore, Helen heard a number of versions of the song, which was obviously well known and loved by the locals. Creighton published the song in one of her books, but it didn't achieve much notice outside the province until the 1960's when the CBC television show, Singalong Jubilee, which filmed in Halifax, used it as its theme song. I have a hometown affection for "Farewell" because I grew up on the Eastern Shore, and attended high school in Petpeswick. Though we don't know who actually wrote it, it's assumed that it was written during W.W.I, when so many were leaving home to sail away to war in a foreign land. This is especially evident in the verse which starts out: "The drums they do beat and the wars to alarm..." Strangely, though the subject matter is somber, the tune is pretty upbeat and definitely catchy. I'm going to post the song being performed by a local group, Sons of Maxwell:
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