Origins and Meaning behind Farewell to Nova Scotia

The Folk Songs of Canada songbook merely call this song, "A popular sailor's song that is traditional in Nova Scotia", but it has become much more important than that. The song was first collected by Canadian folklorist, Helen Creighton. The song gained even greater popularity when it was recorded and broadcast on the Halifax TV show, Singalong Jubilee in 1964. The song has become an Anthem of Nova Scotia and was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006.


It is  suggested in the Hall of Fame discription that Farewell to Nova Scotia was written during or shortly before World War one and may have taken inspiration from the poem, A Soldier's Adieu, by Scottish poet Robert Tannahill. Here is the poem courtesy of the Internet Archive:

                    HE weary sun's gane doun the west, 

                    The birds sit nodding on the tree, 
                    All Nature now inclines for rest, 

                    But rest aUow'd there's nane for me : 
                    The trumpet calls to War's alarms. 

                    The rattling drum forbids my stay ; 
                    Ah ! Nancy, bless thy soldier's arms, 

                    For ere morn I will be far away. 

The first two lines of the poem are very similar to verse one of Farewell to Nova Scotia, but in more casual sing-song language. The sun was setting in the west, like in the poem and the birds were singing instead of sleeping (nodding) in the trees. Nature was ready for rest in both examples, but the protagonist was not allowed this luxury. The rest of the song is less exact in its similarity to the poem but the message is still almost the same. Both protagonists have a girlfriend they have to leave, and both are saying goodbye. While not explicitly stated in the song I believe the sailor is also going off to war; probably with the navy. The line, "the drums they do beat and the wars do alarm. The captain calls, we must obey", makes this quite apparent. If the suggested time frame is correct, the singer is likely a sailor who was drafted into the Great War and forced to leave his home, probably for the first time. Nova Scotians were part of the first Canadian Contingent sent to aid Great Britain on October 3, 1914. The 17th Infantry Ballalion, the Nova Scotia Highlanders, sailed from Halifax.