“Red River Valley” is a traditional folk song of uncertain and much-debated origin. The earliest dated manuscript of the lyric turned up in Iowa, marked 1879, and the earliest published version appeared in the 1890s under a different name.
One well-supported theory traces the song to Canada, holding that it was composed around the time of the 1870 Red River Rebellion and originally told of a parting between a Métis woman and an English-speaking soldier sent west with the troops. As the song spread south, it was absorbed into American cowboy tradition and became a Western standard; its first recording, in the 1920s, was issued as a “cowboy love song.”
The lyric — a plea to a departing sweetheart not to leave the valley and the one who loves her — has made it one of the best-known songs in North America.
