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Guitar: Gentle Annie (Including lyrics and chords)

2,744 views · Published 19 February 2013 · 3:08 · Indexed 26 September 2026

Channel: threelegsoman · 2013 · Education

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Gentle Annie is another Stephen Foster song. There seems to be some confusion for whom it was written as the following article from Wikipedia explains:

"Gentle Annie" is a popular American song composed by Stephen Foster in 1856. The song has original lyrics but is said to be based on a traditional Irish melody. According to his niece, Evelyn Foster Morneweck, there is a tradition that it was written in honor of Annie Jenkins, the daughter of a grocer in Federal Street, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, named Morgan Jenkins. She disputes this, and states that it is probably written in honor of his cousin, Annie Evans, who died shortly before it was composed. Some sources say it is Foster's farewell to his maternal grandmother, Annie Pratt McGinnis Hart. His paternal grandmother was Ann Barclay.

Personally with regard to the tune, I found a great similarity with the Scottish song Annie Laurie and feel that this must have at least had some influence on Foster when he wrote the song.

Gentle Annie
Stephen Foster

                   C              G                      C          F
Thou wilt come no more, gentle Annie,
           C                 Am                G   G7  
Like a flow'r thy spirit did depart;
                 C          G                    C         F
Thou art gone, alas! like the many
                   C                           G                        C
That have bloomed in the summer of my heart.

                 F                         C
 Shall we never more behold thee;
             Am                                      G    G7
 Never hear thy winning voice again
                    C                   G                        C         F
 When the Springtime comes gentle Annie,
                    C                           G                               C
 When the wild flow'rs are scattered o'er the plain?

We have roamed and loved mid the bowers,
When thy downy cheeks were in their bloom;
Now I stand alone mid the flowers
While they mingle their perfumes o'er thy tomb.

Ah! the hours grow sad while I ponder
Near the silent spot where thou art laid,
And my heart bows down when I wander
By the streams and the meadows where we stray'd.

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