Traditional song · Civil War memory · collected in the early 1900s

Fare You Well, My Darling

A traditional soldier’s farewell recovered by early twentieth-century collectors. Complete performance lyrics, the Missouri source trail, and the distance between a promise and a return.

Watch on YouTube ↗ · Published 2026-10-21

A traditional song, a new performance

This is a Bloody Hopes performance of a traditional ballad, with an unknown author, rather than a newly written historical narrative. The recording was published on October 21, 2026. Its words belong to a song transmitted in variants; this page prints the performance text supplied by the project editor, without production directions. It does not present this arrangement as a recovered Civil War recording.

What the early collectors preserved

H. M. Belden’s Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society places “Fare you well, my darling” on pages 380–381. One version was collected in 1909 by Edna Letsom, through the West Plains High School, from James L. McAnally of the 10th Iowa. A veteran’s recollection gives a traceable connection to Civil War memory; a collection date does not establish when the song was composed.

Harvard’s finding aid for Belden’s Missouri Folk-Lore Society papers also lists “Oh fare you well, my darling” among Civil War songs in material collected between 1903 and 1917. These records establish a documentary trail in the early twentieth century. They do not identify an original author or prove a single unchanged wartime text.

Two voices at the doorway

The soldier asks for composure before he can offer safety. His first reassurance ends with “While I am present here”: the comfort lasts only as long as the person who gives it remains. The woman answers in the future tense, imagining wounds and death. Neither voice can verify what it predicts. Five hundred miles measures separation emotionally as well as geographically; it should not be used to locate an otherwise unnamed campaign.

The fife and drum do something harsher than accompany a departure: they drown the soldier’s cry. Public military sound covers an individual voice. The cannon verse then replaces private pleading with an imperative to stand steady. Belief and practical survival meet in the powder-dry line, but neither guarantees the reunion promised at the end. The closing hope remains a hope.

Variants and limits

The 1909 Missouri text names Pensacola and has wording that differs from this performance. The existence of variants is part of the song’s history, rather than an error to erase. The recording description identifies Roud 3582, a catalog reference rather than an authorship credit. Claims in that description about particular field recordings and the universal survival of one line have not been independently established here; they are not used as historical evidence on this page.

Traditional words; new AI-assisted, human-directed arrangement and visuals. No specific soldier, sweetheart, battle or successful homecoming is claimed.

Complete song lyrics

Lyrics

Performance text supplied by the Bloody Hopes editor on October 23, 2026. Traditional ballad; author unknown. Production and vocal-direction tags omitted.

So fare you well, my darling,
So fare you well, my dear,
Don't grieve for my long absence
While I am present here

Since it is my misfortune
A soldier for to be,
Oh! try to live contented,
And don't you grieve for me

I am agoing away to-morrow,
To tarry for a while,
So far from you, my darling,
About five hundred miles

She wrung her lily white hands,
So mournful she did cry,
You will list as a soldier,
And in the war you will die

In the battle you will be wounded,
On the field you will be slain,
You will burst my heart asunder
If I never see you again

The cannons loudly roaring,
The bullets whistling by,
The fife and drum are sounding,
To drown the soldier's cry

Stand steady by your cannon,
Make balls and grape-shot fly;
Oh! trust in God your Saviour,
And keep your powder dry

I hope the time is coming,
When you and I will meet;
With words and kisses
We will each other greet

Related listening and history

Sources