Banks Of The Ohio: A Song History

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"Banks of the Ohio" is an American murder ballad, catalogued as Laws F5 and Roud 157, in which a young man walks his sweetheart to the riverbank, proposes, and drowns her when she turns him down.[1] Its author is unknown, and the earliest date the Traditional Ballad Index gives for it is 1915.[1] Some sources connect it with older murder ballads from across the Atlantic: the Ballad Index cross-references "The Wexford Girl," and Sing Out! notes suggestions of a link to "Pretty Polly."[1][2] No direct ancestor is established in the sources consulted here. Sing Out! also points out that the song is missing from several major anthologies, including Carl Sandburg's American Songbag and Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music.[2]

Watercolor of a steamboat on the Ohio River below steep wooded hills near Wheeling

Lefevre James Cranstone, The Ohio River near Wheeling, West Virginia, watercolor and gouache, 1859–60. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0).

The sources consulted here place the first recordings around 1927. Red Patterson's Piedmont Log Rollers cut "Down on the Banks of the Ohio" for Victor, reportedly on August 12, 1927, though Sing Out! observes that accounts differ between 1927 and 1928.[1][2][3][4] G. B. Grayson and Henry Whitter recorded a version for Gennett in 1927 under the title "I'll Never Be Yours."[1][2] Ernest V. Stoneman (Edison) and Clarence Green (Columbia) followed in 1928.[1] On June 21, 1936, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlie and Bill Monroe recorded "On the Banks of the Ohio" as a vocal duet with guitar and mandolin for Bluebird.[5] The Blue Sky Boys and the Callahan Brothers also recorded it in the 1930s.[1]

The folk revival carried the ballad to new listeners through Pete Seeger, the New Lost City Ramblers and Doc Watson, who recorded it several times.[1][2] In 1971 Olivia Newton-John released a pop arrangement produced by Bruce Welch and John Farrar.[6] It reached number 6 in Britain, where it entered the chart on October 23, 1971, and went to number 1 in several Australian cities.[6][7]

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Sources

  1. The Traditional Ballad Index: "Banks of the Ohio [Laws F5]".
  2. Sing Out!: "The Banks of the Ohio, Part One" (Ken Bigger).
  3. SecondHandSongs: "Down on the Banks of the Ohio" by Piedmont Log Rollers.
  4. Appalachian History: "'On the Banks of the Ohio': An Old Murder Ballad".
  5. Discography of American Historical Recordings (UC Santa Barbara): "Victor matrix BS-102740. On the banks of the Ohio / Monroe Brothers".
  6. Pop Archives (Australia): "Olivia Newton-John: The Banks of the Ohio".
  7. Official Charts Company: "Banks of the Ohio" (Olivia Newton-John).