Red River Valley

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.