Lyric discussion by yhtrownu 

Cover art for Shenandoah lyrics by Anaïs Mitchell

In the old folk song, "Oh Shenendoah," a rover has left a daughter of Shenendoah, who he loves and has not seen for 7 years, and he yearns to return to Shenendoah to find her across the great Missouri. So the man suffers for the love of a woman.

In this sequel, he has returned to Shenendoah, found his love, and she has sung him love songs. Then she betrays their love and leaves him (which is sort of karma, since he left her in the original song, and then wanted her back years later). Now he's toiling on the land of Shenendoah yearning for his love to return to him. The man suffers for the love of a woman again.

Nothing much changes, I guess. :)