The Happy Wanderer

Friedrich-Wilhelm Möller, ~1953· Songs Well-Known in America · p.130

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Text

C G7

I love to go a-wandering, Along the mountain track,

C F G7 C

And as I go, I love to sing, My knapsack on my back.

Chorus:

C G7 C G7 C

Val-deri, Val-derah, Val-deri, Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

G7 C F G7 C

Val-deri, Val-dera., My knapsack on my back.

I love to wander by the stream That dances in the sun,

So joyously it calls to me, "Come! Join my happy song!"

I wave my hat to all I meet, and they wave back to me,

And blackbirds call so loud and sweet from every green wood tree.

High overhead, the skylarks wing, They never rest at home

But just like me, they love to sing, as o'er the world we roam.

Oh, may I go a-wandering until the day I die!

Oh, may I always laugh and sing, beneath God's clear blue sky!

* "The Happy Wanderer" ("Der fröhliche Wanderer" or "Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann") is a popular song

by Friedrich-Wilhelm Möller written shortly after World War II. It is often mistaken for a German folk song, but

it is actually an original composition. In 1953 a BBC radio broadcast of the choir's winning performance at the

Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod turned the cheerful encore into an instant hit. –