Thank you guys for all your feedback.

That's about what I know as well (see Chicago Chorale info here ). Niles claims to have heard a North Carolina girl sing a couple of lines, which he then enhanced and expanded into the song we know.  Regardless of how honest he was, if he only heard an individual voice, there was no "original" harmonic structure, so any chords he added represent his own "embellishment," as @strumelia says.  There is no way to know whether the original was major or minor.  And if it was modal, it was neither!

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Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie

There is some info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Wonder_as_I_Wander

I read what JJ Niles wrote about it in one of his books... that he 'fleshed out' the tune after hearing a girl singing it. He claimed he heard only a brief 'crude snippet' and that he composed the rest, but i suspect the girl sang more than just a snippet. From my readings years ago, I concluded that Niles had a tendency to take credit for composing stuff that already existed. I do feel he likely added chords to embellish the unaccompanied ballad.

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Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990

I think it is important to kept the historical information about the tunes we play flowing otherwise it will be lost forever. Even if someone plays a tune as a major but was originally a minor tune the history is still important.   With that said I was wondering if anyone knows the history behind the (I Wonder as I Wander) tune. Thanks for the feedback.