Nashville-based fiddle player, Milly Raccoon rips a page from the history books to breathe new life into “That Girl I Left Behind Me.” The song’s roots can be traced back to Elizabethan England when the tune was sung by British soldiers.
“It remained a wartime song for the next five centuries, with new lyrics added for each new wartime era. Notably the American Civil War and World War I,” Milly Raccoon says. Before its English title, the song was an Irish ballad known as “An Spailpin Fanach,” Gaelic for “The Wandering Laborer.”
Milly’s version is less about a romance ravaged by war and more about navigating her personal life—and self. A self that Milly feels she’s finally left behind. Such sentiments can be traced in her upcoming album, Frankincense and Myrrh, set for release on July 7th.
*Cover photo by Eli Meltzer, courtesy of Josh Bloom.