Annotation:Ashokan Farewell
X: 1 T:Ashokan Farewell C:Jay Unger, 1982 N:Ashokan was the name of a town now under the Ashokan Resevoir, but it N:also refers to the Fiddle and Dance camps run by Jay Unger and Molly Mason. N:Written at the conclusion of the 1982 Ashokan Weekend L:1/8 M:3/4 K:D V:1 |Ac|"D" d3c BA |"D7" F4 EF |"G" G3F ED |"Em" B,2 D3B, |"D" A,2 D2 F2 |"Bm7" A2 d2 f2 |! "G" f3g f2|"A7" e4 Ac |"D" d3c BA |"Am" F4 "D7"EF |"G" G3F ED |"Em7" B,2 D3B, |! "D" A,2 D2 F2 | A2 d2 f2 |"A7" A2 c2 e2|"D" d4|| FG |A3F D2 |"D7" d4 A2 | "G" B3c d2 |"D" AF3 E2 | F3E D2 |"Bm" B,3A, A,2 |"A7" A,6 | A4 FE | "D" D2 F2 A2|"C" =c4 d2 |"G" B3c d2 |"D" AF3 D2 |A,2 D2 F2 |"Bm7" A2 d2 F2 |"A7" E3D C2 |"D"D4|| V:2 AG|F3 E DC|D4 A,2|B,2D2B,2|G,4G,2|A,4 D2|F2A2G2|! F3E D2|C3D EG|F3 E DC|D4 A,2|B,2D2B,2|G,4G,2|! A,2A,2 D2|F2A2G2|F3E DC|F4||FG|A2F2D2|F4 A2| GF ED B,2|D4C2|B,4D2|G,4G,2|A,2A,2D2|C2 DE FG| A2F2D2|E4F2|GF ED B,2|D4 D2|A,4 D2|F2E2D2|C2A,2C2|D4||
ASHOKAN FAREWELL. American, Air or Waltz (3/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B. The tune was chosen by Ken Burns as the theme for 1992's celebrated PBS series "The Civil War." However, rather than a melody from that era, it is a 1983 Grammy winning piece by fiddler Jay Ungar (West Hurley, New York), who composed it at the end of an emotional year at the 1982 music and dance camp run by he and Molly Mason at Ashokan, New York. The tune has since become the traditional 'last dance' at the camp each year. "Ashokan Farewell" has become hugely popular, and can even frequently be heard rendered by school string programs. The name Ashokan first appears in Dutch records from the 17th century and may be a corruption of an Indian word. The town of Ashokan itself was largely inundated by the vast Ashokan Reservoir, one of New York City's watersheds in the Catskill Mountains. The 'folk process' has yielded several titles based on miss-hearings of the word Ashokan, including "The Choking Farewell," and "I'm Choking, Farewell." Various sets of words have been attached to the tune, including ones by Brian MacGregor, written in 1991 and sung by Priscilla Herdman, on her Flying Fish Records CD "Forever & Always."
