Ashokan Farewell

Just for fun, this is what’s stuck in my head right now. A gorgeous fiddle tune from the 1980s that sounds like it’s much older.

Ashokan Farewell” /əˈʃoʊˌkæn/ is a musical piece composed by the American folk musician Jay Ungar in 1982. For many years, it served as a goodnight or farewell waltz at the annual Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camps, run by Ungar and his wife Molly Mason, who named the tune after the Ashokan Field Campus (now the Ashokan Center) of SUNY New Paltz in Upstate New York.[1]

Apparently there are words but you need a helluva range to do it…will have to try after I’m awake more and have done some exercises.

The sun is sinking low in the sky above Ashokan
The pines and the willows know soon we will part
There's a whisper in the wind of promises unspoken
And a love that will always remain in my heart

My thoughts will return to the sound of your laughter
The magic of moving as one
And a time we'll remember long ever after
The moonlight and music and dancing are done

Will we climb the hills once more?
Will we walk the woods together?
Will I feel you holding me close once again?
Will every song we've sung stay with us forever?
Will you dance in my dreams or my arms until then?

Under the moon the mountains lie sleeping
Over the lake the stars shine
They wonder if you and I will be keeping
The magic and music, or leave them behind

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