Fare Thee Well is an 18th century English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

, in which a lover bids farewell before setting off on a journey. The lyrics include a dialogue between the lovers. The first published version of the song appeared in Roxburghe Ballads

Roxburghe Ballads

In 1847 John Payne Collier printed "A Book of Roxburghe Ballads". It consisted of 1,341 broadside ballads from the seventeenth century, mostly English, originally collected by Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer , later collected by John Ker, 3rd Duke of Roxburghe.Unfortunately Collier...

dated 1710; the lyrics were there given the title "The True Lover's Farewell". The song has been recorded, most notably by Nic Jones

Nic Jones

Nicolas Paul "Nic" Jones is an English folk singer, fingerstyle guitarist and fiddle player whose professional career spanned the years 1964-1982. He recorded five solo albums, and was a frequent guest performer.-Biography:...

 as "Ten Thousand Miles", as well as by Joan Baez

Joan Baez

Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....

, Mary Black

Mary Black

Mary Black is an Irish singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both folk and contemporary material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland, and in many other parts of the world....

, Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson.-Life and career:...

, Chad & Jeremy, Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...

, Liam Clancy

Liam Clancy

William "Liam" Clancy was an Irish folk singer and actor from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest and last surviving member of performing group The Clancy Brothers. The group were regarded as Ireland's first pop stars...

, Marianne Faithfull

Marianne Faithfull

Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....

 and Kate Rusby

Kate Rusby

Kate Anna Rusby is an English folk singer and songwriter from Penistone, South Yorkshire. Sometimes known as The Barnsley Nightingale, she has headlined various British national folk festivals, and is regarded as one of the most famous English folk singers of contemporary times...

 and as "Ten Thousand Miles" by Michael Holliday

Michael Holliday

Norman Alexander Milne, known professionally as Michael Holliday was a British crooner popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s....

, Burl Ives

Burl Ives

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....

, Molina and Roberts and June Tabor

June Tabor

June Tabor is an English folk singer.- Early years :June Tabor was inspired to sing by hearing Anne Briggs' EP Hazards of Love in 1965. "I went and locked myself in the bathroom for a fortnight and drove my mother mad. I learned the songs on that EP note for note, twiddle for twiddle. That's how I...

. "Fare Thee Well" shares several lyrics which parallel those of Robert Burns

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

' "A Red, Red Rose

A Red, Red Rose

"My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose" is a 1794 song in Scots by Robert Burns based on traditional sources. The song is also referred to by the title My Love is Like A Red, Red Rose or Red, Red Rose and is often published as a poem.-The poem:...

". The lyrics are also strikingly similar to a folk song titled, "My Dear Mary Ann"
that dates back to the mid-19th century. Similarities include the meter and rhyme scheme, as well as the alternative title of "Ten Thousand Miles". Lyrical similarities include the opening line, "Fare thee well my own true love", "Ten thousand miles or more" (word-for-word matches), and the question of seeing a dove or other bird crying for its love. The subjects of the songs are practically identical: Lovers mourning their separation and wanting to return to each other.

Lyrics

Fare thee well my own true love

And farewell for a while.

I’m going away, but I’ll be back

If I go ten thousand miles.

Ten thousand miles, my own true love,

Ten thousand miles or more,

And the rocks may melt and the seas may burn,

If I should not return.

Oh don’t you see that lonesome dove,

Sitting on an ivy tree,

She’s weeping for her own true love

Just as I shall weep for mine.

Oh come back my own true love

And stay a while with me

For if I had a friend all on this earth,

You’ve been a friend to me.

And fare thee well my own true love

And farewell for a while.

I’m going away, but I’ll be back

If I go ten thousand miles.

This song is most known currently for the Mary Chapin Carpenter version entitled "10,000 Miles" being featured in the movie "Fly Away Home

Fly Away Home

Fly Away Home is a 1996 drama and comedy film directed by Carroll Ballard, the director of The Black Stallion . The film stars Anna Paquin, Jeff Daniels and Dana Delany. The story follows a young girl from New Zealand who survives a car crash that results in the death of her mother...

".

External links

• The Mudcat Cafe: DTStudy: My Dear Mary Ann
• The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World hosted by California State University Fresno