Child Ballads
Encyclopedia
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and their American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
variants, collected by Francis James Child
Francis James Child
Francis James Child was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of folk songs known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University, where he produced influential editions of English poetry...
in the late nineteenth century. The collection was published as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads between 1882 and 1898 by Houghton Mifflin
Houghton Mifflin
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is an educational and trade publisher in the United States. Headquartered in Boston's Back Bay, it publishes textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults.-History:The company was...
in ten volumes and later reissued in a five volume edition.
The nature of the ballads
Child's collection was not the first of its kind; there had been many less scholarly collections of English and Scottish ballads, particularly from Bishop Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765) onwards. There were also 'comprehensive' ballad collections from other countries. Child modelled his work on Svend GrundtvigSvend Grundtvig
Svend Hersleb Grundtvig was a Danish literary historian and ethnographer. He was one of the first systematic collectors of Danish traditional music, and he was especially interested in Danish folk songs. He began the large project of editing Danish ballads. He also co-edited Icelandic ballads. He...
's Danmarks gamle Folkeviser
Danmarks gamle Folkeviser
Danmarks gamle Folkeviser is a collection of all known texts and recordings of the old Danish popular ballads.It was started in 1853 by Svend Grundtvig...
, classifying and numbering the ballads and noting different versions, which were placed side by side to aid comparison. As a result one Child number may cover several ballads, which Child considered variants of the same story, although they may differ in many ways (as in "James Hatley
James Hatley
James Hatley is Child ballad 244, existing in several variants. It appears to have no historical basis.-Synopsis:A villain—Sir Fenwick, False Fennick, or fause Phenix—steals the king's jewels. He lays the blame on James Hatley or Jamie O’Lee....
"). Conversely, ballads classified separately may contain turns of phrase, and even entire verses, that are identical.
The ballads vary in age; for instance, the manuscript of "Judas
Judas (ballad)
"Judas", Child ballad 23, dates to at least the 13th century and is one of the oldest surviving English ballads. It is numbered as 23 in Francis Child's collection.-Synopsis:...
" dates to the thirteenth century and a version of "A Gest of Robyn Hode
A Gest of Robyn Hode
"A Gest of Robyn Hode" is Child Ballad 117; it is also called A Lyttell Geste of Robyn Hode in one of the two oldest books that contain it....
" was printed in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The majority of the ballads, however, date to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although some probably have very ancient influences, only a handful can be definitively traced to before 1600. Moreover, few of the tunes collected are as old as the words. Nevertheless Child's collection was far more comprehensive than any previous collection of ballads in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
Many of Child's ballads were obtained from printed broadsides
Broadside (music)
A broadside is a single sheet of cheap paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations...
, but he generally distinguished the 'traditional' ballads that interested him from later broadside ballads. Unfortunately, since Child died before writing a commentary on his work, it is uncertain exactly how and why he selected some ballads and discounted others.
The Child Ballads deal with subjects typical to many ballads: romance, supernatural experiences, historical events, morality, riddles, murder, and folk heroes. On one extreme, some recount identifiable historical people, in known events, embellished for dramatic reasons. On the other, some differ from fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s solely by their being songs and in verse; some have been recast in prose form as fairy tales. A large part of the collections is about Robin Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
; some are about King Arthur
King Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
. A few of the ballads are rather bawdy.
Modern folk adaptations
Many Child Ballads remain a live part of contemporary post-folk culture. British electric folkElectric folk
Electric folk is the name given to the form of folk rock pioneered in England from the late 1960s, and most significant in the 1970s, which then was taken up and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man, to produce Celtic rock and its...
groups such as Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
and Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
drew heavily on the Child Ballads in their repertoires. Harry Smith
Harry Everett Smith
Harry Everett Smith was an American archivist, ethnomusicologist, student of anthropology, record collector, experimental filmmaker, artist, bohemian and mystic...
included a number of them into his Anthology of American Folk Music
Anthology of American Folk Music
The Anthology of American Folk Music is a six-album compilation released in 1952 by Folkways Records , comprising eighty-four American folk, blues and country music recordings that were originally issued from 1927 to 1932.Experimental filmmaker and notable eccentric Harry Smith compiled the music...
. Jessica Haines and Mark Kaiser feature three Child Ballads, ("The Grey Selchie", "Hughie Graeme", and "Matty Groves") on their 2006 release, So Here's To You. The McKrells included "Matty Groves" on their 2000 release Live. The ballads also figured prominently in the early recordings of Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, and they crop up even in the work of bands not usually associated with folk material, such as Ween
Ween
Ween is an American alternative rock group. They formed in 1984 in New Hope, Pennsylvania when central members Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo met in an eighth grade typing class. Ween has a large cult underground fanbase despite being generally unknown in American pop music...
's recording of "The Unquiet Grave
The Unquiet Grave
"The Unquiet Grave" is an English folk song in which a young man mourns his dead love too hard and prevents her from obtaining peace. It is thought to date from 1400 and was collected in 1868 by Francis James Child, as Child Ballad number 78....
" (Child 78) under the title "Cold Blows the Wind", or versions of "Barbara Allen" (Child 84) recorded by the Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
, Art Garfunkel
Art Garfunkel
Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and actor, best known as being a member of the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel...
, and (on the soundtrack of the 2004 film A Love Song for Bobby Long
A Love Song for Bobby Long
A Love Song for Bobby Long is a 2004 American drama film written and directed by Shainee Gabel. The screenplay is based on the novel Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps.-Plot:...
) John Travolta
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
. In 2009, Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes are a folk rock band which formed in Seattle, Washington. They are signed to the Sub Pop and Bella Union record labels. The band came to prominence in 2008 with the release of their second EP, Sun Giant, and their debut full length album Fleet Foxes...
included "The Fause Knight Upon the Road
The Fause Knight Upon the Road
The False Knight Upon the Road is a British ballad, collected and published as Child ballad 3, Roud 20. It features a riddling exchange between a schoolboy and a "false knight," the devil in disguise.-Synopsis:...
" as the b-side to the 7" release of "Mykonos
Mykonos (song)
US version-Music video:A music video was made for "Mykonos", and was directed by Sean Pecknold, singer Robin Pecknold's brother. It is entirely animated and is described by Pitchfork.tv as:...
" (as "False Knight on the Road").
In Peter Beagle's novel The Last Unicorn
The Last Unicorn
The Last Unicorn is a fantasy novel written by Peter S. Beagle and published in 1968. It has sold more than five million copies worldwide since its original publication, and has been translated into at least twenty languages....
, the character Captain Cully, a robber chief, sets out to make himself another Robin Hood by immortalizing himself in ballads. He misidentifies another character as "Mr. Child" and tries to get him to collect the songs, and tells him that writing them himself is legitimate.
In 1960 John Jacob Niles
John Jacob Niles
John Jacob Niles was an American composer, singer, and collector of traditional ballads. Called the "Dean of American Balladeers", Niles was an important influence on the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, with Joan Baez, Burl Ives, and Peter, Paul and Mary, among others,...
published The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, in which he connects folk songs which he collected throughout the southern United States and Appalachia
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
in the early 20th century to the Child Ballads. Many of the songs he published were revived in the Folk music revival, for example "The Riddle Song
The Riddle Song
"The Riddle Song," also known as "I Gave My Love a Cherry" is an English folk song, apparently a lullaby, which was carried by settlers to the American Appalachians. It descends from a 15th-century English song in which a maiden says she is advised to unite with her lover. It is related to Child...
" ("I gave my love a Cherry"), which he connects with Child No. 1, "Riddles Wisely Expounded
Riddles Wisely Expounded
"Riddles Wisely Expounded" is a traditional English song, dating at least to 1450. It is Child Ballad 1 and Roud 161, and exists in several variants...
".
See also
- List of folk song collections
- List of the Child Ballads
- Roud Folk Song IndexRoud Folk Song IndexThe Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...
Further reading
- Child, Francis James. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 5 Volumes (Dover PublicationsDover PublicationsDover Publications is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward Cirker and his wife, Blanche. It publishes primarily reissues, books no longer published by their original publishers. These are often, but not always, books in the public domain. The original published editions may be...
, 2003) - Bronson, Bertrand Harris. The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads, with Their Texts, According to the Extant Records of Great Britain and North America, 4 volumes (Princeton and Berkeley: Princeton University and University of California Presses, 1959, ff.).
- Bronson, Bertrand Harris. The Singing Tradition of Child's Popular Ballads (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976).
- Marcello Sorce Keller, "Sul castel di mirabel: Life of a Ballad in Oral Tradition and Choral Practice", Ethnomusicology, XXX(1986), no. 3, 449- 469.
External links
- Text of the collection
- Many ballads with commentary and background music.
- A short list of "early" Child ballads dating to before 1600
- An extended discussion of pre-1600 Child ballads
- The English and Scottish Popular Ballads online
- Child Ballads translated in Italian by Riccardo Venturi