Ten Traditional Folk Songs Inspired By The Roud Index

Steve Roud discusses his work compiling The Folk Song Index, an online index to all the traditional folksongs of the English-speaking world.

This was shared in the group by Gloria Goodwin Raheja.

Introduction

I shared a couple of pieces in The Ballad Tree: Traditional Folk Ballads and Songs, a great folk music Facebook group that you can visit and join here.

This is a bit lazy on my part but I am going to take ten songs from the Roud Index to make this playlist. I will find unaccompanied versions on YouTube to share with you.

This is the Wiki list of songs that I have used. Many will have been covered by Folk or Folk Rock bands but I am going for something featuring only the human voice, nothing else, to keep it as real as possible.

Unaccompanied Folk Songs are difficult to track down but these may be modern recordings, and on the list or not, but I hope they are all acceptable.

This is a piece about the Index itself

So without further ado I will start to look for these songs and share them with you.

"The Elfin Knight" - Steve Riddell

Acappella or unaccompanied versions are difficult to find, so I apologize if my choices don't quite meet the group's stipulations but here is the first one that I plucked from the list.

"Green Bushes" - Christy-Lyn

This is an old English folk song which dates from the 1760s and speaks about a woman who agrees to forsake her true love and marry another.

"Rambleaway" - Catherine Earnshaw

Rambleaway is a a tune from Somerset collected by Cecil Sharp, and performed beautifully by Shirley Collins and Norma Waterson amongst many others.

"Loch Lomond" by Zara RS

A traditional Scottish Folk song covering subjects we find in many such songs.

"John Barleycorn" by Bonny

The earliest known written version is Elizabethan how ever in folk traditions it is believed to be far far older possibly going back to the dawn of agriculture in Britain. Roud Folk Song Index #164. It is an allegorical song celebrating the sowing and harvest of barley and its subsequent use as alcohol.

"Thistle And Rose" by Lorin Fairbrother

This does have a rhythmic backing but is essentially a capella.

"Maccrimmon's Lament" - Fiona Hunter

There is a single chord from some kind of pipe organ that comes in but this is carried by Fiona's voice.

Lizzie Higgins - "What A Voice"

Born Elizabeth Ann Higgins in Guest Row, Aberdeen, she was the daughter of settled Travellers the piper Donald "Donty" Higgins and the singer Jeannie Robertson. I am not sure if this is a traditional song or a modern composition, but it is just her and her voice.

"Lovely Joan" - Folkal Point

This is not unaccompanied but is (Roud # 592) so can be included I think.

Its melody was used as the counterpoint tune used in British composer Ralph Greaves's arrangement of Fantasia on "Greensleeves" from Ralph Vaughan Williams's opera "Sir John in Love".

"Oak, Ash, and Thorn" - Peter Bellamy

Oak, Ash, and Thorn is an English folk song adapted from Rudyard Kipling's poem 'A Tree Song', which was included in his fantasy book Puck of Pook's Hill. Peter Bellamy set it to music in his album of the same name, the first of many Kipling-inspired albums that would become the signature genre of Bellamy's discography. The poem praises the oak, ash, and hawthorn trees as the most useful and ancient trees of England, placing them above the yew, alder, beech, and elm trees in terms of utility and history.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading, listening and hope you have enjoyed this and would love to hear your thoughts and opinions.