There’s certain songs that are so old and have been around for so long that we never truly know their origin. The song “Farewell to Nova Scotia” is no different. We don’t know the original lyricist, but we do know the woman who discovered the song!
For years, folklorist Helen Creighton travelled the Nova Scotia countryside collecting stories, songs, and information from everyday people from coast to coast. Along the way, she gathered and popularized some of the most amazing folklore that would have most certainly been lost if not for her.
One of the most popular pieces of history she discovered was an old song that locals in West Petpeswick called “The Nova Scotia Song,” which she talked about in an interview back in the late ’80s! At the time, few could have imagined that the song would one day become one of Nova Scotia’s most beloved and recognizable musical treasures.
“I usually traveled alone but, when Miss Doreen Senior was with me, she could write the music down immediately. We often took picnics with us but this day in 1933 it was pouring rain and I believe we had our picnic in the car. Still we managed to get wet anyway, especially our feet, walking through the muddy road to the house. Of course the roads were not paved then; they were all mud. I hadn’t heard of Mrs. Dennis Greenough before, but she had heard of me because I had been down that way before [i.e., the Petpeswick-Chezzetcook district]. People are so hospitable, you know. Mrs. Greenough said, ‘Why didn’t you bring your picnic in the house and have it here?’ Now, I don’t remember whether Miss Senior did or not, but I put my feet in the oven to get them warm and dry. While I was sitting there, Mrs. Greenough sang ‘The Nova Scotia Song’ for us. We liked it right away but at that time we weren’t overly enthused; we didn’t know then that the song was as special as it has now become. The song was very popular in that area. I was told that a singing-master taught it in the schools around Chezzetcook and Petpeswick. They all knew it — all the old people knew it because they would have gone to school at the turn of the century. So, I made a compilation — something I’d never done with any other song. You see, I’d get a verse here and a verse there. I’d write these verses down and put them in order. They all had pretty much the same tune. I published it in Traditional Songs From Nova Scotia.”
She wrote her findings, including this song, in her book Traditional Songs of Nova Scotia (1950). The rest, as they say, is history.
The song has since been recorded by dozens of artists and continues to be an unofficial anthem of resilience and love for our province. More than 90 years after Helen Creighton first collected it, “Farewell to Nova Scotia” remains one of the most recognizable and beloved songs ever associated with Nova Scotia.
Helen was even asked about the song by Queen Elizabeth II when she visited Halifax in 1976! She apparently asked whether the song had Scottish origins. After some digging, Helen was able to tell her that it did.
It follows the tune and has similar lyrics to an old Scottish song called “The Soldier’s Adieu.” Although its Scottish roots have been confirmed, no one person has ever been identified as the original writer of “Farewell to Nova Scotia.”
