Roud Folk Song Index - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition

Oral tradition

Oral tradition and oral lore is cultural material and traditions transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...

in the English language

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...

from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud

Steve Roud

Steve Roud is the founder of the Roud Folk Song Index and an expert on folklore and superstition, resident in Maresfield, East Sussex, England. He was formerly Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon and Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society, whose Committee he later...

, a former librarian in the London Borough of Croydon

London Borough of Croydon

The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in South London, England and is part of Outer London. It covers an area of and is the largest London borough by population. It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name...

.

Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadside Index (printed sources before 1900) and a "field-recording index" compiled by Roud. It subsumes all the previous well-known printed sources known to 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...

(the Child Ballads

Child Ballads

The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...

) and includes recordings from 1900 to 1975.

Until early 2006 the index was available only by a CD subscription; it can now be found online on a website maintained by the English Folk Dance and Song Society

English Folk Dance and Song Society

The English Folk Dance and Song Society was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dance Society. The EFDSS, a member-based organisation, was incorporated as a Company limited by guarantee in 1935 and became a Registered Charity The English Folk...

Function of index

The primary function of the Roud Folk Song Index is to act as a research aid which correlates versions of traditional folk song lyrics that have been independently documented over past centuries by many different collectors across both the UK and North America. It is possible by searching the database, for example by title, by first line(s), or subject matter (or a combination of any of a dozen fields) to locate each of the often numerous variants of a particular song. Comprehensive details of those songs are then available, including details of the original collected source, and a reference to where to find the text (and possibly music) of the song within a published volume in the EFDSS archive.

A related index, known as the "Roud Broadside Index", includes references to songs which appeared on broadsides

Broadside (printing)

A broadside is a large sheet of paper printed on one side only. Historically, broadsides were posters, announcing events or proclamations, or simply advertisements...

and other cheap print publications, up to about 1920. In addition, there are many entries for music hall

Music hall

Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...

songs, pre-World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

radio performers’ song folios, sheet music, etc. The index may be searched by title, first line etc and the result includes details of the original imprint and where a copy may be located. The "Roud num" field may be used as a cross-reference to the Roud Folk Song Index itself in order to establish the traditional origin of the work.

The database is recognised as a "significant index" by the EFDSS and was one of the first items to be published on its web site after the launch of the online version of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library

Vaughan Williams Memorial Library

The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society , located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House...

in 2006.

Numbering scheme and cross references

Related songs are grouped under the same Roud number. Older songs tend to occupy low numbers, but songs which are obscure are given higher numbers. This explains why "Sheath and Knife

Sheath and Knife

"Sheath and Knife" is a folk ballad.-Synopsis:A woman is pregnant with her brother's child. He takes her to the greenwood to have her child, but she dies...

" (Child 16) is Roud 3960. If a trusted authority gives the name of a song but doesn't give the words, it is assigned Roud number 000. "Brigg Fair

Brigg Fair

"Brigg Fair" is an English folk song. It is best known in a choral arrangement by Percy Grainger and a subsequent set of orchestral variations by Frederick Delius....

" (Roud 1083), "I'll Tell Me Ma

I'll Tell Me Ma

"I'll Tell Me Ma" is a well known children's song. It was collected in various parts of England in the 19th century and again appears in collections from shortly after the turn of the 20th century...

" (Roud 2649) and "Cuckoo's Nest" (Roud 5407) are undocumented before 1898. The most modern folk songs were still being discovered in the 1970s in the Ozark Mountains.

The Index cross references to the Childs Ballad number, if one is available for the particular song in question. It also includes, where appropriate, the so-called Laws number

George Malcolm Laws

George Malcolm Laws Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a scholar of traditional UK and US folk song.His name is normally rendered as "G Malcolm Laws jnr". He is best known for "American Balladry from British Broadsides", published in 1957 by the American Folklore Society. He graduated from the...

, a reference to a system of codification of folk songs using one letter of the alphabet and up to two numeric digits, developed by G Malcolm Laws jnr

George Malcolm Laws

in the 1950s.

Compiler

Steve Roud

was formerly the Local Studies Librarian in the London Borough of Croydon

Croydon

Croydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...

. He was also Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society

Folklore Society

The Folklore Society was founded in England in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts and crafts, customs and belief...

. He is the co-author of A Dictionary of English Folklore (2005, ISBN 0-19-860766-0). Starting in 1993 he input various fields to a database, listing the source singer (if known), his locality, the date of noting the song, the publisher (book or recorded source), plus other fields. In the past few years the numbers have been widely accepted in academic circles.

In 2009, Steve Roud was one of five people that year to be awarded the Gold Badge of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. This award recognises "unique or outstanding contributions to folk music, dance or song, distinguished service to the Society and/or exceptional contributions to the Society’s work".

Similar collections

The Traditional Ballad Index at the California State University

California State University

The California State University is a public university system in the state of California. It is one of three public higher education systems in the state, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College system. It is incorporated as The Trustees of the...

at Fresno includes Roud numbers up to number 5000; it includes comments on the songs, but draws on fewer sources.

The Folk Song Index is a collaborative project between the Oberlin College Library

Oberlin College Library

The Oberlin College Library is a library located in Oberlin, Ohio. The recipient of the ACRL in 2002, the Oberlin College Library is recognized for superior collections and services. The library system has more than 2.4 million items of print and media materials, as well as extensive online...

and a not-for-profit, educational organization called Sing Out!

Sing Out!

Sing Out! is a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that has been published since May 1950.-Background:Sing Out! is the primary publication of the tax exempt, not-for-profit, educational corporation of the same name...

. This is an index to traditional folk songs of the world, with an emphasis on English-language songs, containing over 62,000 entries and including over 2,400 anthologies.

Max Hunter's collection lists 1,600 songs, but each minor variant is given a distinct number.

James Madison Carpenter

James Madison Carpenter

James Madison Carpenter, born in Blacklands, Mississippi in 1888, was a Methodist minister and scholar of American and British folklore. He received his bachelor and masters of arts degrees from the University of Mississippi, and a PhD from Harvard in 1929. He is most known for his substantial...

's collection has 6,200 transcriptions and 1000 recorded cylinders made between 1927 and 1955. The index gives the title, first line and the name of the source singer. When appropriate, the Child number is given. It is still a largely unexploited resource, with none of the recordings easily available.

The Essen folk song database is another collection that includes songs from non English-speaking countries, particularly Germany and China.

1 to 100

"The Gypsy Laddie
The Gypsy Laddie
"The Gypsy Laddie" , also known as "Black Jack Davy" and "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies" among many other titles, is a Border ballad , possibly written about 1720 on the Scottish side of the border...

" (Child
Child Ballads
The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century...

200)
"The Streets of Laredo
Streets of Laredo (song)
"Streets of Laredo" , also known as the "Cowboy's Lament", is a famous American cowboy ballad in which a dying cowboy tells his story to a living one. Derived from the English folk song "The Unfortunate Lad", it has become a folk music standard, and as such has been performed, recorded and adapted...

" (Laws
George Malcolm Laws
George Malcolm Laws Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a scholar of traditional UK and US folk song.His name is normally rendered as "G Malcolm Laws jnr". He is best known for "American Balladry from British Broadsides", published in 1957 by the American Folklore Society. He graduated from the...

B1)
"Garners Gay" ("Rue", "The Sprig of Thyme
The Sprig of Thyme (song)
Sprig of Thyme, The Seeds of Love, Maiden’s Lament, Garners Gay, Let No Man Steal Your Thyme or Rue is a traditional British and Irish folk Ballad that uses fairly obvious botanical and other symbolism to warn young people of the dangers in taking false lovers...

")
"Lord Thomas and Fair Annet
Lord Thomas and Fair Annet
Lord Thomas and Fair Annet is an English folk ballad.-Synopsis:Lord Thomas is in love with Fair Annet, or Annie, or Elinor, but she has little property. He asks for advice. His father, mother, and brother advise that he should marry the nut-brown maid with a rich dowry...

" (Child 73)
"The Three Ravens
The Three Ravens
"The Three Ravens" is an English folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611, but it is perhaps older than that. More recent versions were recorded right up through the 19th century. Francis James Child recorded several versions in his...

" (Child 26)
"Lamkin
Lamkin
"Lamkin" is an English ballad. It gives an account of the murder of a woman and her infant son by a man, in some versions, a disgruntled mason, in others, a devil, bogeyman or a motiveless villain...

" (Child 93)
"The Female Highwayman
Sovay
Sovay is a traditional English folk song about a young woman who dresses and arms herself as a highwayman in order to test her suitor. In disguise she robs her suitor of nearly all his possessions, but even under threat of death he refuses to give up the gold ring given by Sovay, thus proving...

" or "Sovay
Sovay
Sovay is a traditional English folk song about a young woman who dresses and arms herself as a highwayman in order to test her suitor. In disguise she robs her suitor of nearly all his possessions, but even under threat of death he refuses to give up the gold ring given by Sovay, thus proving...

" (Laws N21)
"The Twa Sisters
The Twa Sisters
"The Twa Sisters" is a murder ballad that recounts the tale of a girl drowned by her sister. It is first known to have appeared on a broadside in 1656 as "The Miller and the King's Daughter." At least 21 English variants exist under several names, including "Minnorie" or "Binnorie", "The Cruel...

" (Child 10)
"The Cruel Mother
The Cruel Mother
"The Cruel Mother" is a murder ballad.-Synopsis:A woman gives birth to one or two illegitimate children in the woods, kills them, and buries them. On her return trip home, she sees a child, or children, playing, and says that if they were hers, she would dress them in various fine garments and...

" (Child 20)
"Lord Randal" (Child 12)
"The Baffled Knight
The Baffled Knight
The Baffled Knight or Blow Away the Morning Dew is Child ballad 112 , existing in numerous variants. A version is recorded in Thomas Ravenscroft's Deuteromelia with a matching tune, making this one of the few early ballads for which there is extant original music.-Synopsis:A knight meets a maid...

" (Child 112)
"The Elfin Knight
The Elfin Knight
"The Elfin Knight" is a traditional Scottish folk ballad of which there are many versions, all dealing with supernatural occurrences, and the commission to perform impossible tasks.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 2) (also "Scarborough Fair
Scarborough Fair
"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional ballad of the United Kingdom.The song tells the tale of a young man, who tells the listener to ask his former lover to perform for him a series of impossible tasks, such as making him a shirt without a seam and then washing it in a dry well, adding that if she...

")
"The Dowie Dens o Yarrow
The Dowie Dens o Yarrow
"The Dowie Dens of Yarrow", also known as "The Braes of Yarrow" is a Scottish border ballad. It exists in many variants and it has been printed as a broadside, as well as published in song collections...

" (Child 214)
"The Daemon Lover
The Daemon Lover
"The Daemon Lover", also known as "James Harris", "James Herries", or "The House Carpenter" is a popular English ballad. It tells the story of a man , who returns to a former lover after a very long absence, and finds her with a husband and a baby...

" ("The House Carpenter") (Child 243)
"The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" ("The Gosport Tragedy"; "Pretty Polly
Pretty Polly (ballad)
"Pretty Polly", "The Gosport Tragedy" or "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" is a traditional English-language folk song found in the British Isles, Canada, and the Appalachian region of North America, among other places....

") (Laws P36A/B)
"Frog Went A-Courting
Frog Went A-Courting
"Frog Went A-Courtin'" is an English language folk song. Its first known appearance is in Wedderburn's Complaynt of Scotland under the name "The frog came to the myl dur", though this in Scots rather than English...

"
"The Three Butchers
The Three Butchers (ballad)
"The Three Butchers", "Bold Johnson", "Dixon and Johnson" or "Johnson-Jinkson" is a traditional English folk ballad telling the story of how two or three butchers defeat seven or more robbers...

" ("Dixon and Johnson
The Three Butchers (ballad)
"The Three Butchers", "Bold Johnson", "Dixon and Johnson" or "Johnson-Jinkson" is a traditional English folk ballad telling the story of how two or three butchers defeat seven or more robbers...

") (Laws L4)
"The Bramble Briar
The Bramble Briar (ballad)
"The Bramble Briar", "The Merchant's Daughter" or "In Bruton Town" is a traditional English folk murder ballad that tells the story of how two brothers murder a servant who is courting their sister...

" ("The Merchant's Daughter
The Bramble Briar (ballad)
"The Bramble Briar", "The Merchant's Daughter" or "In Bruton Town" is a traditional English folk murder ballad that tells the story of how two brothers murder a servant who is courting their sister...

"; "In Bruton Town
The Bramble Briar (ballad)
"The Bramble Briar", "The Merchant's Daughter" or "In Bruton Town" is a traditional English folk murder ballad that tells the story of how two brothers murder a servant who is courting their sister...

") (Laws M32)
"Honest Labourer
Honest Labourer (ballad)
"The Honest Labourer", "The Jolly Thresher", "Poor Man, Poor Man" or "The Nobleman and the Thresher" is a traditional English Folk ballad , which tells the story of a meeting between a poor labourer and a wealthy noble.- Synopsis :...

" ("The Jolly Thresher
Honest Labourer (ballad)
"The Honest Labourer", "The Jolly Thresher", "Poor Man, Poor Man" or "The Nobleman and the Thresher" is a traditional English Folk ballad , which tells the story of a meeting between a poor labourer and a wealthy noble.- Synopsis :...

", "Poor Man, Poor Man
Honest Labourer (ballad)
"The Honest Labourer", "The Jolly Thresher", "Poor Man, Poor Man" or "The Nobleman and the Thresher" is a traditional English Folk ballad , which tells the story of a meeting between a poor labourer and a wealthy noble.- Synopsis :...

", "The Nobleman and the Thresher
Honest Labourer (ballad)
"The Honest Labourer", "The Jolly Thresher", "Poor Man, Poor Man" or "The Nobleman and the Thresher" is a traditional English Folk ballad , which tells the story of a meeting between a poor labourer and a wealthy noble.- Synopsis :...

")
"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:...

" (Child 3)
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads. The subject matter is frequently associated with the genre of the Halewyn legends circulating in Europe...

" (Child 4)
"Gil Brenton
Gil Brenton
Gil Brenton is Child ballad 5, Roud 22, existing in several variants.-Synopsis:A man has brought home a foreign woman to be his wife....

" (Child 5)
"Earl Brand
Earl Brand
Earl Brand is one of the Child ballads 7 . Legend claims it recounts a historical event.-Synopsis:The hero, who may be Earl Brand, Lord Douglas, or Lord William, flees with the heroine, who may be Lady Margaret. A Carl Hood may betray them to her father, but they are always pursued. The hero...

" (Child 7)
"Erlinton
Erlinton
"Erlinton" is Child ballad 8.One variant features Robin Hood, but this variant forces the folk hero into a ballad structure where he does not fit naturally.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 8)
"The Fair Flower of Northumberland
The Fair Flower of Northumberland
"The Fair Flower of Northumberland" is a folk ballad.-Synopsis:A Scottish knight is taken by the Earl of Northumberland. The knight persuades the Earl's daughter, the fair flower, to free him and come with him to Scotland, by promising to marry her. As soon as they reach his home, he tells her...

" (Child 9)
"The Cruel Brother
The Cruel Brother
-Synopsis:A knight courts a lady. She tells him he must win the consent of her kin. He neglects that of her brother John. John mortally stabs her on her wedding day...

" (Child 11)
"Babylon
Babylon (ballad)
-Synopsis:An outlaw comes upon three sisters in the woods. He threatens each one in turn to make her marry him. The first two refuse and are killed. The third threatens him with her brother or brothers. He asks after them and discovers that he is the brother...

", or, "The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (Child 14)
"Hind Horn
Hind Horn
"Hind Horn" is traditional folk ballad.-Synopsis:Hind Horn and the king's daughter Jean fall in love. He gives her a silver wand, and she gives him a diamond ring and tells him when the stones grow pale, he has lost her love. One day, on his travels, he sees it growing pale and sets out for her...

" (Child 17)
"Sir Lionel
Sir Lionel
Sir Lionel is the younger son of King Bors of Gaunnes and Evaine and brother of Bors the Younger in Arthurian legend. He is a double cousin of Lancelot and cousin of Lancelot's younger half-brother Ector de Maris...

" (Child 18)
"Willie's Lyke-Wake
Willie's Lyke-Wake
-Synopsis:Willie sets up his wake and lies in his winding cloth. His love discovers this and pleads with her father to let her go. When he does, and she enters the room, Willie rouses himself and declares that he will marry her at once.-Variants:...

" (Child 25)
"A-Growing
The Trees They Grow So High (folk song)
"The Trees They Grow So High" is a British folk song. The song is known by many titles, including "Daily Growing", "Young But Daily Growing" and "Bonny Boy is Young ". It first appeared in print in 1792 as "Lady Mary Ann". The subject of the song is an arranged marriage of a young girl by her...

" ("He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing") (Laws O35)
"Kempy Kay" (Child 33)
"Hind Etin
Hind Etin
"Hind Etin" is a folk ballad existing in several variants.-Synopsis:Lady Margaret goes to the woods, and her breaking a branch is questioned by Hind Etin, who takes her with him into the forest. She bears him seven sons, but laments that they are never christened, nor she herself churched...

" (Child 41)
"The Broomfield Hill
The Broomfield Hill
"The Broomfield Hill" is a traditional folk ballad.-Synopsis:A man and a woman make a wager, that she can not visit him in the greenwood without losing her virginity, or she makes a tryst and realizes she can either stay and be foresworn, or go and lose her virginity...

" (Child 43)
"Tam Lin
Tam Lin
Tam Lin is the hero of a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. The story revolves around the rescue of Tam Lin by his true love from the Queen of the Fairies...

" (Child 39)
"Captain Wedderburn's Courtship
Captain Wedderburn's Courtship
"Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" is an old Scottish ballad dating from 1785 or earlier. It is Child Ballad #46. It is known by a number of titles, including "Lord Roslin's Daughter" and "The Laird of Rosslyn's Daughter".-Synopsis:...

" (Child 46)
"Proud Lady Margaret
Proud Lady Margaret
"Proud Lady Margaret" is Child ballad 47, existing in several variants.-Synopsis:A man arrives at the heroine's castle to woo her. She is frequently critical of him, on the grounds that his clothing shows him to be no gentleman. In most variants, he taxes her with riddles such as "What's the...

" (Child 47)
"The Twa Brothers
The Twa Brothers
"The Twa Brothers" is Child ballad 49, existing in many variants.-Synopsis:Two brothers are wrestling when a blade that one of them is carrying mortally wounds the other; occasionally, one of them stabs the other intentionally....

" (Child 49)
"The King's Dochter Lady Jean
The King's Dochter Lady Jean
-Synopsis:The heroine goes to the woods. A man meets her, tries to woo her, and rapes her. He asks her name, and they learn that they are brother and sister...

" (Child 52)
"Young Beichan
Young Beichan
"Young Beichan" is a ballad, which with a number of variants and names such as "Lord Baker", "Lord Bateman", and "Young Bekie", was collected by Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century, and is included in the Child ballad as number 53 .-Synopsis:Beichan is born in London but travels to...

" (Child 53)
"Sir Patrick Spens
Sir Patrick Spens
"Sir Patrick Spens" is one of the most popular of the Child Ballads , and is of Scottish origin.-Historicity:The events of the ballad are similar to, and may chronicle, an actual event: the bringing home of the Scottish queen Margaret, Maid of Norway across the North Sea in 1290...

" (Child 58)
"Fair Annie
Fair Annie
-Synopsis:A lord tells Fair Annie to prepare a welcome for his bride, and to look like a maiden. Annie laments that she has borne him seven sons and is pregnant with the eighth; she can not look like a maiden. She welcomes the bride but laments her fate, even wishing her sons evil, that they...

" (Child 62)
"Child Waters
Child Waters
-Synopsis:The pregnant Margaret, or Faire Ellen, is told by Child Waters that she should bide at home. In some variants, he offers her lands to support his child, and she tells him that she would rather have one kiss from him than all his lands. He tells her that she must dress his footpage and...

" (Child 63)
"Fair Janet
Fair Janet
-Synopsis:Janet is in love with Willie, but her father insists on her marrying a French lord. They may attempt to flee, but she goes into labor and can not escape. She hands their baby to Willie, for his care, and he delivers the baby to his mother and goes to the wedding. Janet is ill and dies...

" (Child 64)
"Lady Maisry" (Child 65)
"Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet
Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet
-Synopsis:Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet are brothers who fall in love with the same woman, Maisry. She falls in love with Wyet and becomes pregnant by him. Her father arranges the marriage to Lord Ingram. At the wedding, he learns of the baby; he may offer to claim the baby as his own, and she...

" (Child 66)
"Young Hunting
Young Hunting
"Young Hunting" is a traditional folk song, collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad number 68,, and has its origin in Scotland. Like most traditional songs, numerous variants of the song exist worldwide, notably under the title of "Henry Lee" and "Love Henry" in the United States and "Earl...

" (Child 68)
"Lord Lovel
Lord Lovel
-Synopsis:A lord tells the lady he loves that he is going in a journey that will take several years. After a time, he longs to see her. He returns whereupon he hears of her death, and dies of grief....

" (Child 75)
"The Lass of Roch Royal
The Lass of Roch Royal
-Synopsis:A woman comes to Gregory's castle, pleading to be let in; she is either pregnant or with a newborn son. His mother turns her away; sometimes she tells her that he went to sea, and she goes to follow him and dies in shipwreck. Gregory wakes and says he dreamed of her...

" (Child 76)
"Sweet William's Ghost
Sweet William's Ghost
Sweet William's Ghost is a folk song, collected by Francis James Child in 1868 as Child ballad number 77. It exists in many forms but all versions recount a similar story. It was printed in Allan Ramsay's The Tea-Table Miscellany in 1740, and again in Thomas Percy's Reliques of Ancient English...

" (Child 77)
"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)
"Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (Child 81)
"Child Maurice
Child Maurice
-Synopsis:The hero sends tokens to his lady and asks her to see him in the woods. Her lord learns of it and comes to where he will meet her, and kills him uder the impression that he is her paramour. He brings back the head, and the lady confesses that he was her illegitimate son...

" (Child 83)
"Bonny Barbara Allan" (Child 84)
"Prince Robert
Prince Robert
Prince Robert is Child ballad number 87, existing in several variants, and a murder ballad.-Synopsis:Prince Robert married against his mother's wishes and went to beg her blessing. She prepared a wine cup with poison, put it to her lips without drinking, and gave it to her son. He died...

" (Child 87)
"Young Johnstone
Young Johnstone
Young Johnstone is Child ballad 88, a border ballad that exists in several variants.-Synopsis:Several variants open with the heroine's brother and love drinking together. One of them may propose that they each marry the other's sister...

" (Child 88)
"Fause Foodrage
Fause Foodrage
-Synopsis:Nobles rebelled against the king, and Fa’se Footrage, among them, sneaks into the royal castle to kill the king—or, in other variants, the Eastmure king kills King Honour because his suit for King Honor's queen was rejected. The queen pleads for her life until her child is born. Fa’se...

" (Child 89)
"Jellon Grame
Jellon Grame
-Synopsis:A woman goes to the greenwood to plead with her lover. When he threatens to kill her, she pleads for her baby's life. He cuts her open and takes out the baby, raising it as his sister's son. But one day, when his son wants to know why his mother never sees him, he tells the truth,...

" (Child 90)
"Fair Mary of Wallington" (Child 91)
"Brisk Young Sailor (Courted Me)", "The Alehouse", "Died For Love", etc
A Brisk Young Sailor Courted Me
"A Brisk Young Sailor " is a traditional Folk ballad , which has been collected from all over Britain, Ireland and North America.-Synopsis:A young sailor courts a young girl and wins her heart...

(Laws P25)
"The Gay Goshawk
The Gay Goshawk
-Synopsis:A Scottish squire sends a letter to his love by a goshawk, who tells her that he has sent many letters and will die for love. She goes to ask her father a boon, and he says, anything but leave to marry the squire. She asks that, if she dies, she will be buried in Scotland. He agrees,...

" (Child 96)
"Brown Robyn" (Child 97)
"Johnie Scot
Johnie Scot
-Synopsis:Johnie Scot served the king of England and got his daughter pregnant. The king threw her in prison to starve. One day, back in Scotland, he sent a shirt to his love, and she sent back a letter with the news. He raised a force and came to her rescue....

" (Child 99)
"Willie o Winsbury
Willie o Winsbury
Willie O Winsbury is Child Ballad #100, existing in several variants. It is a traditional Scottish ballad that dates from at least 1775, and is known under a number of different names, including Lord Thomas of Winesberry.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 100)
"Willie o Douglas Dale
Willie o Douglas Dale
-Synopsis:Willie goes to court, and he and a lady fall in love. When she is pregnant, they flee, but she goes in labor on the way, and gives birth to a son. They go on with the child and reach his father's lands.-Motifs:...

" (Child 101)
"Tom Potts
Tom Potts
-Synopsis:The heroine rejects a rich suitor, Lord Fenix/Phenix, for her poor true love, Tom Potts. Her angry father makes arrangements for the wedding. She sends word to Tom. He sends back word that he will be there and goes to his lord, asking for assistance. The lord is generous with him. ...

" (Child 109)
"The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter
The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter
"The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter" is an English ballad, collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad 110.-Synopsis:A knight persuades a shepherd's daughter to give him her virginity. She chases after him to court, on foot while he is on horseback, and demands marriage. He attempts to...

" (Child 110)
"The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Twelve Days of Christmas (song)
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English Christmas carol that enumerates a series of increasingly grand gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas. Although first published in England in 1780, textual evidence may indicate the song is French in origin...

"
"Johnie Cock
Johnie Cock
Johnie Cock is Child ballad 114, existing in many variants. The Child Ballads were a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late 19th century.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 114)
"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....

" (Child 117)
"Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires
Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires
Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires or Robin Hood and the Widow's Three Sons is Child ballad 140, about Robin Hood.-Synopsis:Robin meets an old woman lamenting that her sons will hang for poaching the king's deer. He persuades an old man to trade his ragged clothing for Robin's fine clothes, and in...

" (Child 140)
"Robin Hood and Queen Katherine
Robin Hood and Queen Katherine
"Robin Hood and Queen Katherine" is Child ballad 145. "Robin Hood's Chase", Child ballad 146, takes up after it.The Queen Katherine of the title is not certainly identified. The periods of time with which Robin Hood has normally been associated did not have any queens named Katherine...

" (Child 145)
"Sir Hugh
Sir Hugh
Sir Hugh is a traditional British folk song, Child ballad # 155, Roud # 73.-Synopsis:Some boys are playing with a ball, in Lincoln. They accidentally throw it over the wall of a Jew's house . The daughter of the Jew comes out, dressed in green, and beckons to a boy to come in to fetch it. He...

", or, "The Jew's Daughter" (Child 155)
"Queen Eleanor's Confession" (Child 156)
"Gude Wallace
Gude Wallace
Gude Wallace is Child ballad 157, recounting in ballad form an exploit of William Wallace from the fourth book of Blind Harry's The Wallace. There are a number of variants, including two different stories.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 157)
"Johnie Armstrong" (Child 169)
"The Death of Queen Jane
The Death of Queen Jane
"The Death of Queen Jane" is an English ballad that describes the events surrounding the death of a Queen Jane. Many now believe that the Queen is Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII of England. However there is no evidence to support this assumption. Historically, Jane Seymour gave birth...

" (Child 170)
"Six Dukes Went a-Fishing
Six Dukes Went a-Fishing
"Six Dukes Went a-Fishing" is a traditional English folk ballad.-Synopsis:Six dukes go to the coast on a fishing trip but find the body of another duke, that of Grantham, washed up on the shore. They take him away, embalm his remains with sweet-smelling ointments and bury him...

"
"Mary Hamilton
Mary Hamilton
"Mary Hamilton" and "The Fower Maries" are two common names for a famous, apparently fictional sixteenth-century ballad from Scotland....

" (Child 173)
"Captain Car", or, "Edom o Gordon
Edom o Gordon
Edom o Gordon or Captain Car Edom o Gordon or Captain Car Edom o Gordon or Captain Car (Child #178, Roud #80]] is a traditional Scottish ballad that exists in several versions. The ballad recounts the gruesome events of Gordon's (or, in some versions, Car's) burning down of his enemy's castle thus...

" (Child 178)
"The Laird o Logie
The Laird o Logie
-Synopsis:Young Logie is imprisoned, to hang. May Margaret comes to court to plead for his life. She is unable to win a pardon but steals some token or a forged pardon , sometimes with the queen's aid...

" (Child 182)
"Jock o the Side" (Child 187)
"Archie o Cawfield
Archie o Cawfield
Archie o Cawfield is an Anglo-Scottish border ballad, number 188 of the Child ballads.-Synopsis:Two brothers lament that their third brother is to be hanged. A proposal of force is met by the more cunning brother with the suggestion that they bring only a handful of men. They get horses, have...

" (Child 188)
"Hughie Grame" (Child 191)
"The Lochmaben Harper
The Lochmaben Harper (ballad)
"The Lochmaben Harper" or "The Blind Harper" is a traditional British Folk ballad "The Lochmaben Harper" or "The Blind Harper" is a traditional British Folk ballad "The Lochmaben Harper" or "The Blind Harper" is a traditional British Folk ballad ((Child # 192, Roud # 85) and is one of the ballads...

" or The Blind Harper
The Lochmaben Harper (ballad)
"The Lochmaben Harper" or "The Blind Harper" is a traditional British Folk ballad "The Lochmaben Harper" or "The Blind Harper" is a traditional British Folk ballad "The Lochmaben Harper" or "The Blind Harper" is a traditional British Folk ballad ((Child # 192, Roud # 85) and is one of the ballads...

(Child 192)
No record
"Jamie Douglas"; "Waly Waly"; "The Water Is Wide
The Water Is Wide (song)
"The Water Is Wide" is a folk song of Scottish or English origin that has been sung since the 1600s and has seen considerable popularity through to the 21st century...

"; "When Cockleshells Turn Silver Bells (Child 204)
"Lord Delamere" (Child 207)
"Lord Derwentwater" (Child 208)
"Geordie
Geordie (ballad)
-Synopsis:The "Geordie" of the title is taken for a crime, to hang; it may be rebellion, murder, horse-stealing, or poaching deer. His wife goes to appeal for his life, sometimes refusing offers to marry her, once widowed, along the way....

" (Child 209)
"The Mother's Malison
The Mother's Malison
-Synopsis:Willie, against his mother's advice, goes to May Margaret's home, where he is not admitted. He drowns in the Clyde. May Margaret wakes and says she dreamed of him. Her mother tells her that he had been there half an hour before...

", or "Clyde's Water" (Child 216)
"Broom of the Cowdenknowes
Broom of the Cowdenknowes
"Broom of the Cowdenknowes" is a traditional Scottish love ballad, Child #217. It is traceable back to the seventeenth century, but the exact origin is unknown. The title of the song references the Scotch Broom flower, a vibrant yellow flower found throughout Scotland, including in Cowdenknowes,...

" (Child 217)
"Katharine Jaffray
Katharine Jaffray
-Synopsis:A woman is wooed by a man who asks her family for leave. Another man comes and wins the consent of her family but does not bother to tell her until the wedding day. Her original lover comes to the wedding and carries her off...

" (Child 221)
"Lizie Lindsay
Lizie Lindsay
Lizie Lindsay is Child ballad 226, existing in several variants .-Synopsis:A highland Laird courts Lizie Lindsay in Edinburgh, sometimes after his mother had warned him not to hide his highland origins. Her family warns him off, but her maid encourages her...

" (Child 226)
"Glasgow Peggy" (Child 228)
"The Earl of Errol
The Earl of Errol
The Earl of Errol is Child ballad 231, existing in several variants.-Synopsis:The earl marries; the bride, if named, is Kate; some variants mention the agreement about her dowry.In various combinations, though always in the order:...

" (Child 231)
"Richie Story
Richie Story
-Synopsis:Of a group of sisters , one falls in love with Richie Story and rejects an earl for him...

" (Child 232)
"Andrew Lammie
Andrew Lammie
Andrew Lammie is Child ballad 233. It is said to record a historical event, with the grave of the heroine in the at Fyvie.-Synopsis:Tifty’s Annie falls in love with Andrew Lammie, a lord's trumpeter. Her parents refuse permission because he is poor. He has to leave, and although he has promised...

" (Child 233)
"The Earl of Aboyne" (Child 235)
"Bonny Baby Livingston
Bonny Baby Livingston
Bonny Baby Livingston or Bonny Baby Livingstone is Child ballad number 222, existing in many variants.-Synopsis:Barbara, Barbra, Annie, or Baby Livingstone is kidnapped by Glenlion and, in most variants, raped...

" (Child 222)

101 to 200

101. "Glenlogie" or "Bonnie Jean o' Bethelnie
Glenlogie
-Synopsis:Jeannie, fifteen or seventeen, sees Glenlogie and falls in love. Various attempts to persuade her that he's unsuitable for her, either by offering another match or by pointing out the disparity of their stations, are unavailing. Glenlogie hears and agrees to marry her.-External links:*...

" (Child 238)
102. "Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie
Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie
- Synopsis :Its heroine, Jeannie, is to be married off at the insistence of her father to a wealthy man, Lord Saltoun, but she is in love with Anachie Gordon, the subject of the song. The song chronicles her resistance to the marriage before she is eventually dragged to the church. Jeannie...

" (Child 239)
103. "The (Bonnie) Rantin' Laddie" or "Lord Aboyne"
The Rantin Laddie
The Rantin' Laddie or Lord Aboyne is a traditional Scottish folk ballad telling of the valiant rescue of his lover by a noble Highland lord.-Synopsis:...

(Child 240)
104. "Henry Martin
Henry Martin (song)
"Henry Martin" is a traditional Scottish folk song about a youngest brother who turns pirate to support his older brothers. The first known printed version dates from the early 17th century and consisted of 82 verses describing the exploits of the freebooter Sir Andrew Barton and his two...

" (Child 167 / Child 250)
105. "The Kitchie-Boy", "Bonny Foot-Boy" or "Earl Richard's Daughter"
The Kitchie-Boy
The Kitchie-Boy is Child ballad number 252; Roud number 252.-Synopsis:A lady falls in love with the kitchen boy. She manages to speak with him, but he is afraid that her father will kill him. She takes her dowry and has a bonny ship built, and the kitchen boy sets sail in it...

(Child 252)
106. "Lord William", "Lord Lundy" or "Sweet William"
Lord William
Lord William, Sweet William or Lord Lundy is a traditional Scottish folk ballad telling how a pair of lovers, William and Janet, outwit her father, her bethrothed and the priest in order to marry one other....

(Child 254)
107. "Burd Isabel And (Earl/Sir) Patrick" or "Burd Bell"
Burd Isabel and Earl Patrick
Burd Isabel and Earl Patrick or Burd Bell is a traditional folk song framed with explicit warnings about loving above your station.-Synopsis:...

(Child 257)
108. "Broughty Wa's" or "(Burd) Helen"
Broughty Wa's
Broughty Wa's or Helen is a traditional folk song.-Synopsis:Helen is a beautiful heiress, betrothed to Hazelan. Glenhazlen visits her and is well received, until his men surround her and they carry her off. She laments that the Highlands are not Dundee or the banks of the Tay. One day as they...

(Child 258)
109. "(Lord Thomas and) Lady Margaret" or "Clerk Tamas (and Fair Annie)"
Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret
Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret or Clerk Tamas is a traditional folk song.-Synopsis:Lord Thomas, or Clerk Tamas, sees Lady Margaret, or fair Annie, in the woods and, although she was in love with him, hunts her like a deer...

(Child 260)
110. "(John Thomson/The Trooper) and the Turk" or "Earl Richard's Wedding" (Child 266)
111. "The Heir of Linne
The Heir of Linne
The Heir of Linne is a traditional folk song existing in several variants.Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, -Synopsis:...

" (Child 267)
112. "Lady Diamond (and the King's Daughter)", "Lady Daisy" or "Eliza's Bower"
Lady Diamond
-Synopsis:A great king had a daughter , who fell in love with his kitchen boy. She became pregnant. Her father demands to know the father, and she tells him. He has the kitchen boy secretly murdered, but then, in most variants, brings his heart to his daughter. She dies...

(Child 269)
113. "The Lord of Lorn (and the Flas Steward)" (Child 271)
114. "Four Nights Drunk
Seven Drunken Nights
"Seven Drunken Nights" is a humorous folk Irish song, most famously performed by The Dubliners and others. The Dubliners version reached number 7 in the UK charts in 1967, thanks to its diffusion on Radio Caroline, though it was banned from the national broadcasting station...

" (Child 274)
115. "Get Up and Bar the Door", "John Blunt" or "Old John Jones"
Get Up and Bar the Door
Get Up and Bar the Door is a medieval Scots ballad about a battle of wills between a husband and wife. It is Child ballad 275. According to Child, it was first published by David Herd.-Synopsis:...

(Child 275)
116. "The Friar (in the Well/and the Maid/Well Fitted)"
The Friar in the Well
-Synopsis:A friar tries to seduce a maiden. She cites fear of hell for refusing. He says he could whistle her out. She hangs a cloth in front of the well and invites him home, with directions to bring money. Then, she declares that her father is coming and tells him to hide behind the cloth. ...

(Child 276)
117. "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin
The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin
-Synopsis:A man has married a woman of higher birth than him. She scorns the household labor. The man kills a wether, skins it, and wraps her in it. He declares that he can not beat her, but he can certainly beat a wether's skin...

", "The (Wee) Cooper of Fife"
Wee Cooper O'Fife
"Wee Cooper O'Fife" is a well-known Scottish folk song about a cooper who beats his wife because she will not cook, clean, and sew. It was recorded by Burl Ives on 11 February 1941 for his debut album Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger...

, "The Daughter of Peggy-O", "Dan Doo", etc. (Child 277)
118. "The (Jolly/Ragged/Dirty) Beggar", "Davy Faa", "Farmer and Tinker", "Gaberlunyie Man", etc.
The Jolly Beggar
The Jolly Beggar also known as The Gaberlunzieman is Child ballad 279. The song's chorus inspired lines in Lord Byron's poem So, we'll go no more a roving.-Synopsis:...

(Child 279)
119. "The Beggar-Laddie", "The Beggar's (Dawtie/Prince)", etc.
The Beggar-Laddie
The Beggar-Laddie is a traditional English ballad existing in several variants. It was collected by Francis James Child as Child ballad 280.-Synopsis:...

(Child 280)
120. "The Keach i the Creel
The Keach i the Creel
-Synopsis:A young woman tells a man that her parents keep her too close for them to meet. The man has his brother make a ladder and a reel; the ladder takes him to the chimney, and by the reel, he is lowered into her bedroom. Her mother guesses there is a man in her bed and sends the father. She...

" (Child 281)
121. No record
122. "Sweet Trinity", "Golden Vanity", "Bold Trellitee", etc
The Sweet Trinity
"The Sweet Trinity", also known as "The Golden Vanity" or "The Golden Willow Tree", is Child Ballad 286. The first surviving version, about 1635, was "Sir Walter Raleigh Sailing In The Lowlands "The Sweet Trinity", also known as "The Golden Vanity" or "The Golden Willow Tree", is Child Ballad 286....

(Child 286)
123. (The) (Young) (Earl of) Essex('s Victory over the Emperor of Germany)", "Queen Elizabeth's Champion" or "Great Britain's Glory"
The Young Earl of Essex's Victory over the Emperor of Germany
The Young Earl of Essex’s Victory Over the Emperor of Germany is Child Ballad 288.-Synopsis:The earl takes to sea—despite, in some variants, the pleas of his love and her reminder of the fate of Benbow -- and meets up with ships of the emperor of Germany. They hail each other, and the earl's proud...

(Child 288)
124. "The Mermaid", "As I Sailed Out One Friday Night" or "The Cabin Boy"
The Mermaid (ballad)
The Mermaid is Child Ballad #289. Dating to around the mid-18th century, this song is known by a number of names, including Waves on the Sea and The Wrecked Ship.-Lyrics:The Mermaid is Child Ballad #289...

(Child 289)
125. "The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie", "the Flowers of Edinburgh" or "My Lady Ye Shall Be"
The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie
The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie is Child ballad 290, existing in several variants, some of them fragmentary.-Synopsis:A man expresses an interest in a woman. The hostler's wife lures her to him with an offer of fine wine. After he has his will of her, she demands his name...

(Child 290)
126. "The Derby Ram" or "As I was Going to Derby"
The Derby Ram (song)
The Derby Ram or As I was Going to Derby is a traditional comic English folk song that tells the story of a ram of gargantuan proportions and the difficulties involved in butchering and otherwise processing its carcass.-Commentary:...
127. "The Leaves of Life", "Under the Leaves" or "The Seven Virgins"
128. "The Herring Song
The Herring Song
The Herring Song, also known as Bolliton Sands, The Red Herring and Jolly red herring is a folk-song found in various forms and believed to be associated with the once-thriving herring-fishing industry in the North Sea. Several different variants of the song are known.-External links:**...

", "Bolliton Sands" or "The (Jolly) (Old/Red) Herring('s Head)"
129. "The Everlasting Circle" or "Down in the Lowlands"
130. "Three Jolly Rogues
Three Jolly Rogues
- Synopsis :A miller, a weaver and a tailor lived in King Arthur's time . They were thrown out because they could not sing. All three were thieves...

"
131. "The Fox
The Fox (folk song)
The Fox is a traditional folk song. It is also the subject of at least two picture books, The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night: an old song, illustrated by Peter Spier and Fox Went out on a Chilly Night, by Wendy Watson...

"
132. "The Beggars Daughter" or "The Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green" etc. (Laws N27)
133. "Green Grow The Rushes Oh", "Come and I Will Sing You" or "The Dilly Song" etc.
Green Grow the Rushes, O
Green Grow The Rushes, Ho , is a folk song popular across the English-speaking world. It is sometimes sung as a Christmas carol...
134. "The Coasts of (High) Barbary" (Laws K33)
135. "Cold Blow And A Rainy Night" or "The Laird o' Windywa's" etc.
136. "King Orfeo" (Child 19)
137. "Tam Pierce
Tam Pierce
"Tam Pierce," also known as "Widdicombe Fair," is a well-known Devon folk song about Tam Pierce, whose horse dies after taking someone to the fair. It was recorded by Burl Ives on 11 February 1941 for his debut album Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger...

" (Widdicombe Fair)
138. "The Dishonest Miller" (Laws Q21)
139. "Joan's Ale Was New"
140. "The Bold Grenadier", "The Nightingale Song" or "One Morning In May" etc. (Laws P14)
141. "Dog And Gun" or "The Golden Glove" (Laws N20)
142. "Charming Mary Neal" (Laws M17)
143. "The Counting Song", "One Man Went To Mow" etc.
144. "The Maid Freed from the Gallows
The Maid Freed from the Gallows
"The Maid Freed from the Gallows" is one of many titles of a centuries-old folk song about a condemned maiden pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the executioner. In the collection of ballads compiled by Francis James Child, it is indexed as Child Ballad number 95; eleven variants, some...

" (Child 95)
145. "Glasgerion" or "Glenkindie"
Glasgerion
-Synopsis:Glasgerion is a king's son and a harper. He harps before another king, whose daughter arranges a tryst with him. He tells his servant to ensure that he wakes in time to make the tryst. The servant goes in his place and rapes the princess. She learns the truth and kills herself,...

(Child 67)
146. "No John No"
147. "Clerk Corvill", "(Giles/George) Collins" or "Lady Alice
Lady Alice
Lady Alice is Child ballad 85. It may be a fragment of a longer ballad that has not been preserved.-Commentary:The entwined flowers appear also in Barbara Allen, Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, and Fair Margaret and Sweet William.-External links:...

" (Child 42 / Child 85)
148. "The Banks o' Sweet Dundee" (Laws M25)
149. "The Crabfish"
150. No record
151. "The Lark In The Morning", "The Ploughboy"
152. "Early Early In The Spring", "The Trail To Mexico" or "The Sailor Deceived" etc. (Laws M1)
153. "The Haymakers' Song"
154. "The False Bride" or "The Week Before Easter", etc.
155. "Mary Of The (Wild) Moor" (Laws P21)
156. "The Betrayed Maiden" or "Betsy (The Waiting Maid)" etc. (Laws M20)
157. "Banks of the Ohio
Banks of the Ohio
"Banks of the Ohio" is a 19th century murder ballad, written by unknown authors, in which "Willie" invites his young lover for a walk during which she rejects his marriage proposal. Once they are alone on the river bank, he murders the young woman....

"
158. "Billy Taylor" or "(Bold) William Taylor" (Laws N11)
159. No record
160. "The Farmer's Curst Wife
The Farmer's Curst Wife
The Farmer's Curst Wife is Child ballad number 278. It has been recorded by Pete Seeger and Jean Ritchie-Synopsis:A farmer had a bad woman for his wife, and one day the devil came for her. They reached Hell, and the gates were shut, so she struck him. She made life in hell so bad that the devil...

" (Child 278)
161. "Riddles Wisely Expounded", "Lay Bent To The Bonny Broom", "The Devil's Nine Questions" etc.
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...

(Child 1)
162. "The Light Dragoon", "The Trooper And The Maid", etc. (Child 299)
163. "The Jolly Ploughboy", "The Scarlet And The Blue", etc.
164. "John Barleycorn
John Barleycorn
"John Barleycorn" is an English folksong. The character of John Barleycorn in the song is a personification of the important cereal crop barley and of the alcoholic beverages made from it, beer and whisky...

"
165. "Adieu My Lovely Nancy", "The Sailor's Farewell", "Swansea Town", etc.
166. "Polly Vaughn
Polly Vaughn
-Synopsis:A man, sometimes called Johnny Randle, goes out hunting for birds. Usually this is described as being in the evening or by moonlight in the rain. He sees something white in the bushes. Thinking this is a swan, he shoots. To his horror he discovers he has killed his true love, Polly...

" (Laws O36)
167. "The Brisk Young Butcher", The Leicester Chambermaid", "Aikey Fair", etc.
168. "The Fair Lass Of Islington"
169. "The Seasons Of The Year"
170. "Once I Had A Sweetheart"
171. "Young Ramble Away" or "Brimbledown Fair"
172. "Bonnie Annie" or "The Banks Of Green Willow"
Bonnie Annie
"Bonnie Annie" is Child ballad 24, existing in several variants.-Synopsis:Annie, a merchant's daughter, falls in love with a sea captain and goes to sea with him, in some variants while pregnant. Something goes wrong, and they determine that Annie is the cause of it. She makes the captain throw...

(Child 24)
173. "Strawberry Fair
Strawberry Fair (song)
Strawberry Fair is an English folk song .The song was collected by H. Fleetwood Sheppard in Broadstone, Devon in 1891. The text may have been re-written by Sabine Baring Gould and Fleetwood Sheppard.-Lyrics:...

"
174. "The Cobbler And The Butcher" or "The Cunning Cobbler Done Over"
175. "Cruel Was My Father", etc. (Laws P20)
176. "The Little Dun Mare"
177. No record
178. "The Gentleman Soldier", "The Sentry" etc.
179. "The Grey Cock", "Saw You My Father?", "The Cock Is Crowing", etc.
The Grey Cock
The Grey Cock or Saw You My Father is one of the famous English/Scots Child ballads . and is sometimes known as 'The Lover's Ghost'It has been recorded many times, in particular by Eliza Carthy-Synopsis:...

(Child 248)
180. "The Brown Girl
The Brown Girl
-Synopsis:The brown girl received a letter from her lover, telling her that he was rejecting her for a more beautiful woman. Then she received another, saying he was dying and summoning her. She told him she was delighted at his dying.-External links:*...

" (Child 295)
181. "The Maid on The Shore", "The Mermaid" or "The Sea Captain" (Laws K27)
182. "Edwin", "Young Edwin in the Lowlands Low" (see Edwin)
183. "Marrowbones", "There Was An Old Woman", etc. (Laws Q2)
184. "Johnny Sands" (Laws Q3)
185. "The Drowned (Lover/Sailor)", "In London Fair City", "Scarborough Banks", etc. (Laws K18)
186. "The (Pretty/Jolly/Simple) Ploughboy" (Laws M24)
187. "Jemmy And Nancy", "The Yarmouth Tragedy", etc. (Laws M38)
188. "The Councillor's Daughter", "The Crafty Lover", "The Lawyer Outwitted" etc. (Laws N26)
189. "The Lake Of Coulfin", "Willy Leonard", etc. (Laws Q33)
190. "Bold Reynolds"
191. "The White Cockade", "Sad Recruit", etc.
192. "Sir Andrew Barton", "Elder Bordee"
Andrew Barton
Sir Andrew Barton served as High Admiral of the Kingdom of Scotland. Notorious in England and Portugal as a 'pirate', Barton was a seaman who operated under the aegis of a letter of marque on behalf of the Scottish crown, and is therefore more widely described as a privateer...

or "Henry Martyn"
Henry Martin (song)
"Henry Martin" is a traditional Scottish folk song about a youngest brother who turns pirate to support his older brothers. The first known printed version dates from the early 17th century and consisted of 82 verses describing the exploits of the freebooter Sir Andrew Barton and his two...

(Child 167 / Child 250)
193. "Sweet Lemminy"
194. No record
195. "Sir Arthur And Sweet Mollee", etc (Laws O14)
196. "The Wife of Usher's Well", "The Lady Gay", "Three Little Babes", etc.
The Wife of Usher's Well
"The Wife of Usher's Well" is a traditional ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad 79, originally from Britain, and is more particularly considered a Scottish ballad, but also popular in North America...

(Child 79)
197. "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry or The Grey Selkie of Suleskerry is a traditional folk song from Orkney. The song was collected by the American scholar, Francis James Child in the late nineteenth century and is listed as Child ballad number 113...

" (Child 113)
198. "Willie and Lady Maisry
Willie and Lady Maisry
-Synopsis:Willie kills the watch on Lady Maisry's father's hall to get to her chamber. After the night, her father kills him. Lady Maisry taxes him with it. He may tell her that Willie killed the guard, but she retorts that they were in armor but Willie was not....

" (Child 70)
199. "The Famous Flower of Serving-Men
The Famous Flower of Serving-Men
The Famous Flower of Serving-Men or The Lady turned Serving-Man is Child ballad number 106Francis James Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, and a murder ballad...

" (Child 106)
200. "Edward", "How Come That Blood on Your Shirt Sleeve", etc.
Edward (ballad)
Edward is a traditional murder ballad existing in several variants. In English its versions were collected by Francis James Child as Child ballad number 13.-Synopsis:...

(Child 13)

201 to 999

201. "The False Lover Won Back
The False Lover Won Back
-Synopsis:A maid pleads with her lover, who tells her that he is going to woo a fairer lady, and she can chose another man for all he cares. She chases after him on foot. As they reach towns, he tries to bribe her with gifts, to leave him, but at the third town, he has fallen in love with her again...

" (Child 218)
202. "The Jolly Ploughboy"
203. "O Good Ale Thou Art My Darling"
204. "Maa Bonny Lad"
205. "The Bonny Hind
The Bonny Hind
-Synopsis:A squire persuades a maiden to lie with him. Afterward, she asks his name, and he reveals that he is a lord's son. She calls him a liar: she is that lord's daughter. The horror-struck son reveals that he was long at sea. She stabs herself to death, and he buries her...

" (Child 50)
206. "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow" (Child 215)
207. Santianna
Santianna
"Santianna", also known as "Santiana", "Santy Anna", "Santayana", "Santiano", "Santy Anno" and other variations, is a sea shanty relating to the Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Supposedly, the last whaler to return to New Bedford hauled in to this tune...

or "Santy Anna" or "The plains of Mexico"
208. "Poor Paddy Works on the Railway
Poor Paddy Works on the Railway
"Poor Paddy Works on the Railway" is a popular Irish folk and American folk song. Historically, it was often sung as a sea chanty. The song portrays an Irish worker working on a railroad....

"
209. "Gower Wassail
Gower Wassail
The Gower Wassail is a wassail song from Gower in Wales, UK. It is printed in A.L. Lloyd's book Folk Song in England , having been heard from Phil Tanner...

"
211. "Wa'ney Island Cockfight"
218. "Oxford/Worcester City"
219. "Thomas the Rhymer
Thomas the Rhymer
Thomas Learmonth , better known as Thomas the Rhymer or True Thomas, was a 13th century Scottish laird and reputed prophet from Earlston . He is also the protagonist of the ballad "Thomas the Rhymer"...

" (Child 37)
220. "Willie's Lady
Willie's Lady
Willie's Lady is Child ballad number 6.A variant of this ballad was one of 25 traditional works included in Ballads Weird and Wonderful and illustrated by Vernon Hill.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 6)
222. "Thorneymoor Woods"
223. "The Ballad of Chevy Chase
The Ballad of Chevy Chase
There are two extant English ballads known as The Ballad of Chevy Chase, both of which narrate the same story. As ballads existed within oral tradition before being written down, other versions of this once popular song may also have existed....

" ("The Hunting of Cheviot") (Child 162)
224. "Captain Ward and the Rainbow
Captain Ward and the Rainbow
Captain Ward and the Rainbow or Ward the Pirate is Child ballad 287. It recounts a tale of the pirate Captain Ward, who may be a historical figure.-Synopsis:The king sends a ship, the Rainbow, after Captain Ward...

" (Child 287)
228. "The Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter"
229. "Little Gypsy Girl"
232. "The Game Of Cards" or "Game of All Fours"
233. "The Duke of Marlborough"
234. "Lizie Wan
Lizie Wan
-Synopsis:The heroine—Lizie, Rosie, Lucy—is pregnant with her brother's child. Her brother murders her. He tries to pass off the blood as some animal he had killed—his greyhound, his falcon, his horse—but in the end must admit that he murdered her...

" (Child 51)
236. "The Cutty Wren"
237. "Bessy Bell and Mary Gray
Bessy Bell and Mary Gray
Betsy Bell and Mary Gray are "twa bonnie lassies", the subject of one of the Child Ballads.According to the ballad, Betsy and Mary were daughters of two Perthshire gentlemen, who in 1666 built themselves a bower to avoid catching a devastating plague...

" (Child 201)
242. "Young Allan" (Child 245)
243. "Redesdale and Wise William
Redesdale and Wise William
-Synopsis:Redesdale says that he can win the love of any lady. William rashly says his sister will not give him her favor, and bets his head against Redesdale's lands. Redesdale throws him in prison, but he writes a letter and sends it to his sister. Redesdale's attempt to woo her are...

" (Child 246)
244. "Willie's Fatal Visit
Willie's Fatal Visit
-Synopsis:A woman asks after her mother, her father, her brother John, and her true love Willie. Only Willie was nearby. He came to her at night, and she took him to bed, telling the cock not to crow until daylight. It crows earlier, and she takes the moonlight for dawn. Willie goes. He meets...

" (Child 255)
245. "Alison and Willie
Alison and Willie
-Synopsis:Willie is in love with Alison. She asks him to her wedding; he says only if he is the bridegroom; she declares that will never be and he will forget her. He rides on, thinking only of her, sees animals, where a knight can not catch one, and realizes that he will never win her...

" (Child 256)
246. "The Suffolk Miracle
The Suffolk Miracle
-Synopsis:A young maiden of noble birth comes to love a young commoner, so her father sends her away. Whilst in exile, the maid wakes one night to find her lover at her window mounted upon a fine horse. They go out riding together until the man complains he has a headache; the maid tends to him and...

" (Child 272)
247. "The Laird o Drum
The Laird o Drum
-Synopsis:The lord of Drum goes to woo a shepherd lass. She does not believe him but sends him to her father, who gives his consent. His brother claims that it disgraces the family. The lord says that his brother wedded a wife to spend money, and he a wife to work and win; he had a lady of...

" (Child 236)
248. "King Edward the Fourth and a Tanner of Tamworth
King Edward the Fourth and a Tanner of Tamworth
King Edward the Fourth and a Tanner of Tamworth is Child ballad 273. A ballad of this title was licensed in 1564.-Synopsis:King Edward goes hunting and sees a tanner riding a mare with a cowskin for a saddle. He tells his men to stay back and goes to talk...

" (Child 273)
249. "John Dory" (Child 284)
250. "John of Hazelgreen
John of Hazelgreen
John of Hazelgreen or Jock O'Hazeldean is Child ballad 293. The Jock O'Hazeldean variant was published by Sir Walter Scott.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 293)
251. "King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France
King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France
King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France is a British ballad which recounts a highly fictionalized version of the Battle of Agincourt and the events surrounding it....

" (Child 164)
253. "Fair Margaret and Sweet William
Fair Margaret and Sweet William
"Fair Margaret and Sweet William" or Lady Margaret or Lady Margaret and Sweet William is a folk song, collected by Francis James Child as Child ballad number 74...

(Child 74)
254. "Frankie and Johnny"
257. "The State of Arkansas"
264. "John(ny) Riley", "The Broken Token" or "A Fair Young Maid All in Her Garden"
John Riley (song)
"John Riley" is a traditional English folk song ....

(Laws N42)
268. "Jack Monroe
Jack Monroe (song)
"Jack Monroe", also known as "Jack Munro," "Jackie Monroe," "Jack-A-Roe," "Jackaroe," "Jackaro," "Jackie Frazier," "Jack the Sailor," "Jack Went A-Sailing," "The Love of Polly and Jack Monroe," among other titles, is a traditional ballad of uncertain origin.The version "Jack The Sailor" collected...

"
269. "Bell Bottom Trousers
Bell Bottom Trousers
"Bell Bottom Trousers" is an old sea shanty about a simple English girl and a sailor, and possibly originated in the British Royal Navy. It is a "bawdy" shanty and is typical of the vulgarity of many sea shantys...

" (Rosemary Lane
Rosemary Lane (song)
Rosemary Lane is an English folksong: a ballad that tells a story about the seduction of a domestic servant by a sailor. This song, and the related sea shanty Bell Bottom Trousers, are Roud #269.-Synopsis:One variant of the song begins with the words:...

)
277. "Seventeen Come Sunday
Seventeen Come Sunday
"Seventeen Come Sunday" is an English folk song which was used in the first movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite and a choral version by Percy Grainger . The words were first published between 1838 and 1845 .-Lyrics:...

"
278. "The Seven Joys of Mary
The Seven Joys of Mary (carol)
"The Seven Joys of Mary" is a traditional carol about Mary's happiness at moments in the life of Jesus, probably inspired by the trope of the Seven Joys of the Virgin in the devotional literature and art of Medieval Europe...

"
285. "Old Polina
Old Polina
Old Polina is a traditional Newfoundland folk song. It is most likely based on the ship Polynia, built in 1861, of the Dundee Seal and Whale Fishing Company fleet. The Polynia was commanded by Captain William Guy from 1883 to 1891, when it was sunk by ice in Davis Strait...

"
290. "The Three Maidens"
293. "My Bonny Boy
My Bonny Boy
My Bonny Boy is an English folk song which is featured as the second movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite.-Lyrics:I once loved a boy and a bonny bonny boy,I loved him I vow and protest,...

"
299. "The Lincolnshire Poacher
The Lincolnshire Poacher
"The Lincolnshire Poacher" is a traditional English folk song.The Lincolnshire Poacher can also refer to:*Lincolnshire Poacher , a numbers station*Lincolnshire Poacher , a type of cheese...

"
302. "King John and the Bishop
King John and the Bishop
King John and the Bishop is an English folk-song dating back at least to the 16th century. It is catalogued in Child Ballads as number 45 and Roud Folk Song Index 302....

" (Child 45)
303. "The Twa Knights" (Child 268)
306. "The Carnal and the Crane
The Carnal and the Crane
"The Carnal and the Crane" is Child ballad 55 and a Christmas carol. It depicts a conversation between two birds—apparently, although the species of the "carnal" has never been identified with any certainty, though crow is generally assumed.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 55)
309. "Canada-I-O
Canada-I-O
"O-Canada" is a traditional Canadian and English folk ballad. It is believed to have been written before 1839...

"
317. "Rio Grande"
319. "Sacramento"
322. "Drunken Sailor
Drunken Sailor
Drunken Sailor is a traditional sea shanty also known as What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?It begins with the question, "What shall we do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?" Each verse thereafter suggests a method of sobering—or castigating, or simply abusing—the sailor.The song...

"
324. "Oh Shenandoah
Oh Shenandoah
"Oh Shenandoah" is a traditional American folk song of uncertain origin, dating at least to the early 19th century...

"
325. "South Australia"
329. "Pretty Polly
Pretty Polly
Pretty Polly , was an outstanding English bred Thoroughbred racehorse and an outstanding broodmare. She won fifteen consecutive races and was only the fifth filly to win the British Fillies Triple Crown since its inception in 1814....

"
332. "Robin Hood and the Tanner
Robin Hood and the Tanner
-Synopsis:A tanner, Arthur a Bland, goes to Sherwood. Robin Hood appears and accuses him of poaching. They fight. Robin blows on his horn, summoning his men, and tells them that the man is certainly a tanner, as he has tanned his hide...

" (Child 126)
333. "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood
The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood
The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood is Child ballad 132, featuring Robin Hood. It is a traditional version of Robin Hood Newly Revived.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 132)
334. "The Bonny Earl of Murray
The Bonny Earl of Murray
"The Bonnie Earl O' Moray" is a popular Scottish ballad, probably written as far back as the 17th century, and has been catalogued under the name "Bonny Earl O'Murray" as Child Ballad No. 181....

" (Child 181)
335. "The Death of Parcy Reed
The Death of Parcy Reed
The Death of Parcy Reed is a Border ballad concerning the betrayal and murder of Percival Reed, believed to have been Laird of Troughend in Redesdale, Northumberland, in late 16th century England...

" (Child 193)
336. "The Fire of Frendraught" (Child 196)
337. "Bothwell Bridge" (Child 206)
338. "Bonnie James Campbell" (Child 210)
339. "The Gardener
The Gardener
The Gardener is Child ballad 219; the collection includes several variants, many fragmentary.-Synopsis:A gardener wooes a lady, proposing to dress her in various flowers. She rejects him with a suggestion that he wear snow and other wintry weather....

" (Child 219)
340. "Rob Roy" (Child 225)
341. "Bonny Lizie Baillie
Bonny Lizie Baillie
Bonny Lizie Baillie is Child ballad 227. Some traditions claim it recounts an actual courtship.-Synopsis:Lizie Baillie meets a Highlander, Duncan Grahame, who courts her. She says she does not know how to work at a farm, and he promises to teach her. She will not have any Lowlander or Englishman,...

" (Child 227)
342. "The Duke of Gordon's Daughter
The Duke of Gordon's Daughter
-Synopsis:Lady Jean falls in love with Captain Ogilvie and runs away with him. The duke tries to have him executed, but the king consents only to have him demoted. Lady Jean finds following after him in poverty, with children, unbearable and goes back to her family, where she is welcomed. Then...

" (Child 237)
343. "The Baron o Leys" (Child 241)
347. "Greenland Whale Fishery
Greenland Whale Fisheries
"Greenland Whale Fisheries" is a traditional sea song. In most of the versions collected from oral sources, the song opens up giving a date for the events that it describes . However, the song is actually older than this and a form of it was published as a ballad before 1725.The song tells of a...

"
362. "The Old Man From Over The Sea"
367. "Sweet Polly Oliver
Sweet Polly Oliver
Sweet Polly Oliver is an English folk song , dating from at least 1840. It is also known as "Pretty Polly Oliver".It is one of the best known of a number of folk songs describing woman disguising themselves as men to join the army....

"
369. "Sam Hall
Sam Hall (song)
“Sam Hall” is an old English folk song about a bitterly unrepentant criminal condemned to death . Prior to the mid 19th century it was called “Jack Hall”, after an infamous English thief, who was hanged in 1707 at Tyburn...

"
384. "Farewell to Nova Scotia
Farewell to Nova Scotia
"Farewell to Nova Scotia" is a popular folk song from Nova Scotia of unknown authorship, collected by folklorist Helen Creighton. It is believed to have been written just prior to or during the First World War. "Farewell to Nova Scotia" brings the listener back to an age when Nova Scotia was...

"
390. "Old Dan Tucker
Old Dan Tucker
"Old Dan Tucker", also known as "Ole Dan Tucker", "Dan Tucker", and other variants, is a popular American song. Its origins remain obscure; the tune may have come from oral tradition, and the words may have been written by songwriter and performer Dan Emmett...

"
397. "Reynardine
Reynardine
Reynardine is a traditional old English ballad; in versions most commonly sung and recorded today, Reynardine is a werefox who attracts beautiful women to him so that he can take them away to his castle...

"

414. "On Top of Old Smoky
On Top of Old Smoky
"On Top of Old Smoky" is a traditional folk song and a well-known ballad of the United States which, as recorded by The Weavers, reached the pop music charts in 1951....

"
431. "Rattlesnake Mountain
Rattlesnake Mountain (song)
Rattlesnake Mountain, also known as On Springfield Mountain is a tradition American folk song. Roud Folk Song Index number 431. Laws G16. It is supposed to be based on an actual incident which occurred on August 7, 1761.-Recordings:...

"
444. "Charles Guiteau
Charles Guiteau (song)
"Charles Guiteau" Roud 444 is a traditional song about the assassination of US President James A. Garfield by Charles J. Guiteau. It is based on another old ballad, "James A...

"
452. "The Bitter Withy
The Bitter Withy
The Bitter Withy is an English folk song reflecting an unusual and apocryphal vernacular idea of Jesus Christ. The withy of the title is the Willow and song gives an explanation as to why the willow tree rots from the centre out, rather than the outside in...

"
453. "The Cherry-Tree Carol
The Cherry-Tree Carol
"The Cherry-Tree Carol" is a ballad with the rare distinction of being both a Christmas carol and one of the Child Ballads . The song itself is very old, reportedly being sung, in some form, at the Feast of Corpus Christi in the early 15th century...

" (Child 54)
456. "Skewball
Skewball
Skewball was the name of an 18th-century British racehorse, most famous as the subject of a broadsheet ballad and folk-song.-History:The horse was foaled in 1741, and originally owned by Francis, 2nd Earl of Godolphin, and later sold. His name has been recorded as "Squball", "Sku-ball", or...

"
475. "All For Me Grog"
477. "Dives and Lazarus
Dives and Lazarus (ballad)
Dives and Lazarus is Child ballad 56, and a Christmas carol. Francis James Child collected two variants, in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads...

" (Child 56)
479. "Sir Cawline
Sir Cawline
-Synopsis:Sir Cawline falls love with the king's daughter and falls ill from it. She tells him that he must do some great deed to be worthy of her: he must keep watch all night on the Eldritch Hill, and the Eldritch king has meant that no man has lived through that.Sir Cawline goes, the king...

" (Child 61)
482. "Brown Adam
Brown Adam
-Synopsis:Brown Adam, a smith, is exiled from his family. He builds a house in the woods for himself and his lady. One day, he goes hunting. He returns home to find his lady with a knight—or king's son—trying to persuade her to leave Brown Adam. She refuses many rich bribes; she will stay with...

" (Child 98)
483. "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington
The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington
-Synopsis:A esquire's son fell in love with a bailiff's daughter. She would not believe him in love, and his family had him apprenticed for seven years when they discovered it. He believed that she did not think of him the whole time....

" (Child 105)
487. "Lady Franklin's Lament
Lady Franklin's Lament
"Lady Franklin's Lament" is a broadside ballad indexed by George Malcolm Laws commemorating the loss of Sir John Franklin's British Arctic Expedition of 1845...

"/"Lord Franklin
Lady Franklin's Lament
"Lady Franklin's Lament" is a broadside ballad indexed by George Malcolm Laws commemorating the loss of Sir John Franklin's British Arctic Expedition of 1845...

" (Laws K9)
490. "The Newry Highwayman
The Newry Highwayman
"The Newry Highwayman" is a traditional Irish folk song about a criminal's life, deeds, and death. It is also found in England, Scotland, the USA and Canada. The earliest known broadside is from about 1830 . Some versions mention "Mansfield" and this is sometimes taken to be William Murray, first...

" ("Adieu, Adieu", "The Rambling Boy")
494. "Cock Robin
Cock Robin
"Who Killed Cock Robin" is an English nursery rhyme, which has been much used as a murder archetype in world culture. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 494.-Lyrics:...

"
498. "The Roving Gambler"
502. "London Bridge Is Falling Down
London Bridge is Falling Down
"London Bridge Is Falling Down" is a well-known traditional nursery rhyme and singing game, which is found in different versions all over the world. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 502.-Lyrics:...

"
503. "Miller of Dee
Miller of Dee
Miller of Dee is a traditional folk song from the Chester area in the north-west of England. It is often titled "The Miller of the Dee".The song was originally part of Isaac Bickerstaffe's play, "Love in a village"...

"
533. "Whiskey in the Jar
Whiskey in the Jar
"Whiskey in the Jar" is a famous Irish traditional song, set in the southern mountains of Ireland, with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry, as well as Fenit, a village in county Kerry. It is about a Rapparee , who is betrayed by his wife or lover, and is one of the most widely performed...

"
541. "The Braes o' Balquither" (inspiration for "Wild Mountain Thyme
Wild Mountain Thyme
"Wild Mountain Thyme", also known as "Purple Heather" and "Will You Go Lassie, Go", is a folk song, rewritten by Francis McPeake, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland...

"/"Will You Go Lassie, Go")
545. "The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie
The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie
The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie is a Scottish folk song about a thwarted romance between a soldier and a girl. Like many folk songs, the authorship is unattributed, there is no strict version of the lyrics, and it is often referred to by its opening line There once was a troop o' Irish dragoons...

" ("Peggy-O")
558. "Foggy Dew
Foggy Dew
-Foggy, Foggy Dew:The first song of this title was of English origin, sometimes called “Foggy, Foggy Dew”, and is a lamentful ballad of a young lover. It was published on a broadside around 1815, though there are very many versions: Cecil Sharp collected eight versions. Burl Ives, who popularized...

"
564. "Blackwater Side"
567. "All Around My Hat
All Around My Hat (song)
The song "All Around my Hat" is of nineteenth century English origin. In an early version, dating from the 1820s, a Cockney costermonger vowed to be true to his fiancee, who had been sentenced to seven years' transportation to Australia for theft and to mourn his loss by wearing green willow...

" (Laws P31)
592. "Lovely Joan
Lovely Joan
Lovely Joan is a traditional English folk song , and the tune to which it is sung. Its melody is most familiar to modern audiences as the counterpoint tune used in British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on "Greensleeves".-Lyrics:...

"
634. "The Hills of Mexico" (On the Trail of the Buffalo
On the Trail of the Buffalo
"The Buffalo Skinners" is a traditional American folk song. It tells the story of an 1873 buffalo hunt on the southern plains. According to Fannie Eckstorm, 1873 is correct, as the year that professional buffalo hunters from Dodge City first entered the northern part of the Texas panhandle...

)
652. "Haul on the Bowline"
664. "The Bonny Bunch of Roses
The Bonny Bunch of Roses
"The Bonny Bunch of Roses" , also called "Bonaparte's Retreat", is an English folk song.The earliest known version of the tune is in William Christie's "Tradition Ballad Airs" , but there is another tune, of Irish origin. There is an obvious difficulty in identifying the narrator's voice...
672. "One Night As I Lay On My Bed
One Night As I Lay On My Bed
"One Night As I Lay On My Bed" is a traditional folksong.-Synopsis:A young woman lies in bed thinking of her lover. She hears him tapping at her window, asking to be allowed in. She warns him that her parents will hear them. He replies that they are sound asleep...

"
687. "Spanish Ladies
Spanish Ladies
Spanish Ladies is a traditional English naval song, describing a voyage from Spain to the Downs from the viewpoint of ratings of the British Royal Navy.- Origins :...

"
711. "Silver Dagger
Silver Dagger (song)
"Silver Dagger", or "Katy Dear", is an American folk ballad. It likely traces its roots to the British Isles of late 19th century, though possibly much earlier; the first published version appeared in 1907....

"
738. "Buffalo Gals
Buffalo Gals
"Buffalo Gals" is a traditional American song, written and published as "Lubly Fan" in 1844 by the blackface minstrel John Hodges, who performed as "Cool White." The song was widely popular throughout the United States...

"
739. "Sally Goodin"
742. "The Grand Old Duke of York
The Grand Old Duke of York
‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ is an English children's nursery rhyme, often performed as an action song. The Duke of the title has been argued to be a number of the holders of that office, particularly Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany and its lyrics have become proverbial for futile action...

"
745. "Old McDonald Had a Farm
Old McDonald Had a Farm
"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is a children's song and nursery rhyme about a farmer named MacDonald and the various animals he keeps on his farm. Each verse of the song changes the name of the animal and its respective noise. In many versions, the song is cumulative, with the noises from all the...

"
751. "The Old Gray Mare
The Old Gray Mare
The Old Gray Mare is an old folk song, more recently regarded as a children's song. Although nominally about horses, it can also be interpreted as referring to women who are well past their prime....

"
754. "Sourwood Mountain
Sourwood Mountain
"Sourwood Mountain" is a traditional American folk song. Like many folk songs, there are numerous lyrical versions extant, however there are certain commonalities. The song's theme is a lament over the narrator's true love, from whom he is separated. The title comes from the opening line, which...

"
756. "Red River Valley
Red River Valley (song)
Red River Valley is a folk song and cowboy music standard of controversial origins that has gone by different names—e.g., "Cowboy Love Song", "Bright Sherman Valley", "Bright Laurel Valley", "In the Bright Mohawk Valley", and "Bright Little Valley"—depending on where it has been sung. ...

"
757. "Wildwood Flower
Wildwood Flower
"Wildwood Flower" is an American song, best known through performances and recordings by the Carter Family. However, the song predates them. The original title was "I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets"...

"
774. "The Titanic
The Titanic (song)
"The Titanic" is a folk song and children's song most known for being sung in the United States at summer camp...

"
777. "Wreck of the Old 97
Wreck of the Old 97
Old 97 was a Southern Railway train officially known as the Fast Mail. It ran from Washington DC to Atlanta, Georgia. On September 27, 1903 while en route from Monroe, Virginia, to Spencer, North Carolina, the train derailed at Stillhouse Trestle near Danville, Virginia...

"
780. "Little Sadie
Little Sadie
"Little Sadie" is a 20th Century American folk ballad in D Dorian mode. It is also known variously as "Bad Lee Brown", "Cocaine Blues", "Transfusion Blues", "East St. Louis Blues", "Late One Night", "Penitentiary Blues" and other titles. It tells the story of a man who is apprehended after shooting...

"
794. "The Bonnie House of Airlie
The Bonnie House of Airlie
The Bonnie House of Airlie is a traditional Scottish folk song of the seventeenth century, telling the tale of the raid by Archibald Campbell, Earl of Argyll, on Airlie Castle, the home of James Ogilvy, Earl of Airlie, in the summer of 1640...

" (Child 199)
795. "The Boyne Water
The Boyne Water
"The Boyne Water" is an Ulster Protestant folksong by an anonymous lyricist. The lyrics of the song commemorate King William III of Orange's victory over James II at the Battle of the Boyne...

"
802. "Tinker, Tailor
Tinker, Tailor
"Tinker Tailor" is a counting game, nursery rhyme and fortune telling song traditionally played in England, that can be used to count cherry stones, buttons, daisy petals and other items...

"
809. "Haul Away Joe"
812. "Rosebud In June"
813. "Fire Down Below"
816. "The Blacksmith
Blacksmith (song)
"Blacksmith" is a traditional English folk song, also known as "A Blacksmith Courted Me". The song was noted down by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1909 from a Mrs Powell. On that occasion it was sung to the tune "Monk's Gate", better known as the tune of "To be a pilgrim", the hymn by John Bunyan....

"
827. "Git Along, Little Dogies
Git Along, Little Dogies
"Git Along, Little Dogies" is a traditional cowboy ballad, also performed under the title "Whoopie Ti Yi Yo". Artists who have played the song include Roy Rogers, the Sons of the Pioneers, The Kingston Trio, Charlie Daniels, David Bromberg, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Holly Golightly, and Nickel Creek...

"
833. "The Mower"
836. "Cindy
Cindy (folk song)
"Cindy" is a popular American Folk song. According to John Lomax, the song originated in North Carolina. In the early and middle 20th century, Cindy was included in the songbooks used in many elementary school music programs as an example of folk music. It is familiar from the chorus:-External...

"
849. "Bewick and Graham" (Child 211)
866. "Seventeen Come Sunday
Seventeen Come Sunday
"Seventeen Come Sunday" is an English folk song which was used in the first movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite and a choral version by Percy Grainger . The words were first published between 1838 and 1845 .-Lyrics:...

"
876. "Hard, Hard Times
Hard, Hard Times
Hard, Hard Times is a traditional Newfoundland folk song/ballad. There is an earlier version, from England, called "Rigs of the Times". The latest version written in 1936 at the time of the Great Depression by William Emberley of Bay de Verde and performed by Dick Nolan.Emberley's verses, which...

"
880. "Fathom the Bowl
Fathom the Bowl
"Fathom the Bowl" is an English Drinking song, probably dating from the nineteenth century.-Synopsis:With a "Come all ye" opening, the singer invites heroes to join him in praise of punch. There is a catalogue of the ingredients that come from various countries. One verse laments the fact that the...

"
929. "The Holy Ground
The Holy Ground
The Holy Ground is a local place name in the town of Cobh, County Cork, on the southern coast of Ireland. The song "The Holy Ground" is named after this area...

"
933. "Robin Hood and the Ranger
Robin Hood and the Ranger
-Synopsis:Robin Hood, going out to hunt deer, meets a forester who forbids him. They fight. Robin is beaten, and blows his horn, summoning his men. He offers to make him one of their company, and they hold a feast.-External links:*...

" (Child 131)
938. "The Real Old Mountain Dew
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
-History:It was written by Edward Harrigan with music by Dave Braham, from the Irish drama The Blackbird. It was printed in "Irish street Ballads", 1916. It was later recorded under the title The Rare Old Mountain Dew. It is about the intoxicating properties of Irish moonshine, or Poitín...

"
942. "Cotton-Eyed Joe
Cotton-Eyed Joe
"Cotton-Eyed Joe" is a popular American folk song known at various times throughout the United States and Canada, although today it is most commonly associated with the American South...

"
944. "The Barley Mow
The Barley Mow
The Barley Mow is a cumulative song celebrated in the traditions of the folk music of Ireland, England, and Scotland. William Chappell transcribed the lyrics in his two-volume work The Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time ."The Barley Mow" has become a drinking song sung while...

"
948. "Sheep-Crook and Black Dog"
957. "Lily of the West
Lily of the West
"Lily of the West" is a traditional American folk song about a man who travels to Louisville and falls in love with a woman named Mary, or Flora, the eponymous Lily of the West. He catches Mary being unfaithful to him, and, in a fit of rage, stabs the man she is with, and is subsequently imprisoned...

"
971. "The Stonecutter Boy"
975. "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day
I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day
"I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day" is a traditional Irish song written from the point of view of a rich landowner telling the story of his day while buying drinks at a public house.Various versions of the song exist...

"
977. "Willie the Weeper
Willie the Weeper
Willie the Weeperis a song about drug addiction, written by Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon in 1927. It is the basis for Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher The Dave Van Ronk version may be the inspiration for the Velvet Underground's Heroin....

"
983. "Glen of Aherlow
Glen of Aherlow (song)
The Glen of Aherlow is a traditional Irish song which originated as a ballad written by Irish republican Charles Joseph Kickham...

" (Patrick Sheehan)

1000 to 8999

1009. "Finnegan's Wake
Finnegan's Wake
"Finnegan's Wake" is a ballad that arose in the 1850s in the music-hall tradition of comical Irish songs. The song is a staple of the Irish folk-music group, The Dubliners, who have played it on many occasions and included it on several albums, and is especially well known to fans of The Clancy...
1040. "Green Bushes
Green Bushes
Green Bushes is an English folk song which is featured in the second movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' English Folk Song Suite, in Percy Grainger's Green Bushes , and in George Butterworth's The Banks of Green Willow...

" (Laws P2)
1044. "Nottamun Town
Nottamun Town
Nottamun Town is an English folk song which possibly dates from the late medieval period. It is popular in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States.-Lyrics:Most version of the song run along these lines:...

"
1083. "Brigg Fair
Brigg Fair
"Brigg Fair" is an English folk song. It is best known in a choral arrangement by Percy Grainger and a subsequent set of orchestral variations by Frederick Delius....

"
1088. "The Jolly Waggoner
The Jolly Waggoner
The Jolly Waggoner is an English folk-song.-Synopsis:A waggoner looks back on his life. His parents had disapproved of his choice of profession, but has no regrets. He can be cold and wet, but he simply stops at the next inn and sits with the landlord, drinking. In the summer he hears the birds...

"
1164. "Old King Cole
Old King Cole
"Old King Cole" is an English nursery rhyme. The historical identity of King Cole has been much debated and several candidates have been advanced as possibilities...

"
1173. "The Wild Rover
The Wild Rover
The Wild Rover is a popular folk song whose origins are contested.According to Professor T. M. Devine in his book The Scottish Nation 1700 - 2000 the song was written as a temperance song. The song is found printed in a book, The American Songster, printed in the USA by W.A...

"
1274. "Blue Tail Fly
Blue Tail Fly
"Blue Tail Fly", "De Blue Tail Fly", or "Jimmy Crack Corn" is thought to be a blackface minstrel song, first performed in the United States in the 1840s that remains a popular children's song today....

"
1322. "Robin Hood and Little John
Little John
Little John was a legendary fellow outlaw of Robin Hood, and was said to be Robin's chief lieutenant and second-in-command of the Merry Men.-Folklore:He appears in the earliest recorded Robin Hood ballads and stories...

" (Child 125)
1346. "Hail Smiling Morn
Hail Smiling Morn
Hail Smiling Morn, Roud #1346, is a glee which is sung either as a Christmas carol or as an Easter carol, and features in the Yorkshire pub Christmas singing traditions found in several parts of the city of Sheffield...

"
1350. "The Twa Magicians
The Twa Magicians
"The Twa Magicians" or "The Two Magicians" is a British folk song. It first appears in print in 1828 in two sources, Peter Buchan's Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland and John Wilson's Noctes Ambrosianae #40. It was later published as number 44 of Francis James Child's English and...

" (Child 44)
1359. "Bobby Shafto
Bobby Shafto
Robert Shafto was an 18th-century British Member of Parliament , who was the likeliest subject of a famous North East English folk song and nursery rhyme "Bobby Shafto's Gone to Sea".-Biography:...

"
1380. "Oats Peas Beans and Barley Grow
Oats Peas Beans and Barley Grow
Oats Peas Beans and Barley Grow is a traditional British and American folk song, 1380 in the Roud Folk Song Index.The tune normally used, goes by the name "Baltimore" and appears in Joshua Cushing's book "The Fifer's Companion" . The sleevenotes to "The Wild Mountain Thyme" claim that the tune was...

"
1422. "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean
My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean
"My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean" is a traditional Scottish folk songwhich remains popular in Western culture.-History:The origin of the song is unknown, though it is often suggested that the subject of the song may be...

"
1434. "Master Kilby
Master Kilby
Master Kilby is a traditional English folk song. It was collected by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles in 1909. It has been arranged by Benjamin Britten-Recordings:* John Wesley Harding; Trad Arr Jones...

"
1460. "Four Loom Weaver
Four Loom Weaver
Four Loom Weaver , probably derived from "The Poor Cotton Weaver" is a 19th-century English lament on starvation. One source also names it Jone o Grinfilt though this title usually refers to different lyrics and score, which is about the naiveté of country folk...

"
1506, 5407. "Cuckoo's Nest"
1528. "The Butcher and the Tailor's Wife
The Butcher and the Tailor's Wife
"The Butcher and the Tailor's Wife" also known as Benjamin Bowmaneer is a traditional English folk song.It dates from the mid-17th century and existing in several versions, for example The Tailor's Breeches, The Tailor and the Louse and the Bold Trooper...

"
1621. "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar
Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar
"Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar" is Child Ballad number 123, about Robin Hood.-Synopsis:This ballad is one of those appearing in earlier and later versions, the earlier one appearing in damaged form in the Percy manuscript but, as with Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne the story also appears in May...

" (Child 123)
1757. "Maggie May
Maggie May (traditional song)
"Maggie May" is a traditional Liverpool folk song about a prostitute who robbed a sailor. It has been the informal anthem of the city of Liverpool for about 180 years....

"
1759. "Rufford Park Poachers"
1778. "Ten Thousand Miles Away"
1790. "Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham
Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham
Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham is Child ballad 139, a Robin Hood ballad, and in fact an original story.-Synopsis:A fifteen-year-old Robin Hood set out to Nottingham to compete in a shooting contest. The king's foresters make fun of him, offering a bet that he could not kill a deer. When he...

" (Child 139)
1828. "Lukey's Boat
Lukey's Boat
"Lukey's Boat" is a comical folk song originating from the east coast of Newfoundland. Given its metre, it may have derived from a sea shanty.There are many minor variations of the song, depending on the singer; however it is essentially about the characteristics of the title boat, with the last...

" (Loakie's boat)
2005. "Rolling Down to Old Maui
Rolling Down to Old Maui
Rolling Down to Old Maui is a traditional sea song which has been performed and recorded by many folksingers, including Stan Rogers. The song expresses the anticipation of the crew of a whaling vessel on its return to Maui after a season of whaling in the Kamchatka Sea.The song's earliest known...

"
2012. "Blow Ye Winds"
2133. "The Doffin Mistress"
2146. "The Black Velvet Band
The Black Velvet Band
"The Black Velvet Band" is a traditional English and Irish folk song describing transportation to Australia, a common punishment in 19th century Britain and Ireland. The song tells the story of a tradesman who meets a young woman who has stolen an item and passed it on to him...

"
2274. "Sir James the Rose
Sir James the Rose
-Synopsis:The broadside opens with the account of Sir James the Rose's love for a lady named Matilda, how her family tried to marry her off, and how he killed her brother for spying on them....

" (Child 213)
2300. "The Road to Dundee
The Road to Dundee
"The Road to Dundee", or "The Road and the Miles to Dundee" is a traditional Scottish folk ballad.-Synopsis:On a cold windy night a woman asks a man the way to Dundee. He replies that it is difficult to describe, but he will accompany her along the road. He takes a liking to her and exchanges a...

"
2315. "Johnny Cope
Hey, Johnnie Cope, Are Ye Waking Yet?
Hey, Johnnie Cope, are Ye Waking Yet?, also Hey Johnnie Cope, are you awake yet?, Heigh! Johnnie Cowp, are ye wauken yet?, or simply "Johnny Cope" is a Scottish folk song....

"
2335. "The Maid and the Palmer
The Maid and the Palmer
"The Maid and the Palmer" or "The Well Below The Valley" is Child ballad 21 and a murder ballad. Because of its dark and sinister lyrics , the song was often avoided by folk singers. It is claimed that Tom Munnelly was largely responsible for preserving the song...

" (Child 21)
2337. "Lambton Worm"
2338. "Robin Hood and the Bishop of Hereford
Robin Hood and the Bishop of Hereford
-Synopsis:Robin Hood, knowing the bishop is coming, has his men kill a deer, puts shepherd's clothing on himself and six others, and dresses the deer by the road. The bishop threatens to have them all hanged. Robin summons the rest of his men with his horn, compels the bishop to dine with them, and...

" (Child 144)
2355. "Arthur McBride
Arthur McBride
"Arthur McBride" is an Irish folk song. It was first collected around 1840 in Limerick, Ireland by Patrick Weston Joyce; also in Donegal by George Petrie. Several versions are found in Scotland, Suffolk and Devon - the tunes differing slightly...

"
2571. "Aiken Drum
Aiken Drum
"Aiken Drum" is a popular Scottish folk song and nursery rhyme, which probably has its origins in a Jacobite song about the Battle of Sheriffmuir . It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 2571....

" (Hogg 89)
2583. "Eppie Morrie
Eppie Morrie
"Eppie Morrie" is one of the Child Ballads , and is of Scottish origin. The author and date are unknown. It was printed in James Maidment's anthology A North Country Garland in 1824. That version is reprinted in James Kinsley's The Oxford Book of Ballads, 1969...

" (Child 223)
2619. "Blow the Wind Southerly
Blow the Wind Southerly
Blow the Wind Southerly is a traditional English folk song from Northumbria. It tells of a lover desperately hoping for a southerly wind to blow her bonnie back home over the ocean to her. It is Roud number 2619.-Lyrics:...

"
2624. "Blow the Man Down
Blow the Man Down
Blow the Man Down is a sea shanty. The lyric "Blow the man down" refers to the act of knocking a man to the ground.-Lyrics:The full lyrics areChorus:Oh, blow the man down, bullies, blow the man downWay aye blow the man down...

"
2640. "The Crafty Farmer
The Crafty Farmer
The Crafty Farmer is Child ballad 283, existing in several variants.-Synopsis:A farmer is travelling with a sum of money—sometimes because he must pay his rent for a long period of time, sometimes because he has sold a cow—when he falls in with a highwayman. He either admits to the money, or the...

" (Child 283)
2649. "I'll Tell Me Ma
I'll Tell Me Ma
"I'll Tell Me Ma" is a well known children's song. It was collected in various parts of England in the 19th century and again appears in collections from shortly after the turn of the 20th century...

"
2659. "Hard Times Come Again No More
Hard Times Come Again No More
"Hard Times Come Again No More," is a parlor song by Stephen Foster. It was published in New York by Firth, Pond & Co. in 1854 as Foster's Melodies No. 28...

"
2737. "The Galway Shawl
The Galway Shawl
"The Galway Shawl" is a traditional Irish folk song, concerning a rural courtship in the West of Ireland. The first known version was collected by Sam Henry from Bridget Kealey in Dungiven in 1936...

"
2742. "The Moorlough Shore
The Moorlough Shore
-Synopsis:A young man praises the beauties of the countryside and the girl he has fallen in love with. She refuses his advances on the ground that she already loves a sailor. She will wait for her true love for seven years. In frustration the boy leaves his childhood home and sails away, still...

"
2768. "Rock-a-bye Baby
Rock-a-bye Baby
Rock-a-bye Baby is a nursery rhyme and lullaby. The melody is a variant of the English satirical ballad Lilliburlero. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 2768.-Lyrics:...

"
2796. "Southern Cross
Southern Cross (folk song)
The song Southern Cross is a traditional Newfoundland folk ballad describing the loss of the Southern Cross on the south coast of Newfoundland with 173 men on onboard.-Lyrics:She got up the steam twelfth day of March and shortly did embark....

"
2860. "Young Waters
Young Waters
-Synopsis:The queen sees Young Waters ride to court. A clever lord asks her who the comeliest man is, and she says Young Waters. The king is angry that she did not accept him...

" (Child 94)
2861. "The Battle of Harlaw" (Child 163)
2862. "Flodden Field" (Child 168)
2865. "The Wee Wee Man
The Wee Wee Man
"The Wee Wee Man" is Child ballad number 38, existing in several variants.-Synopsis:The narrator meets with a wee, wee man. He lifts an enormous stone and throws it, and she thinks that if she were as strong as Wallace, she could have lifted it to her knee...

" (Child 38)
2994. "The Wind That Shakes the Barley
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (song)
"The Wind That Shakes the Barley" is an Irish ballad written by Robert Dwyer Joyce , a Limerick-born poet and professor of English literature. The song is written from the perspective of a doomed young Wexford rebel who is about to sacrifice his relationship with his loved one and plunge into the...

"
3004. "The Parting Glass
The Parting Glass
"The Parting Glass" is an Irish traditional song, often sung at the end of a gathering of friends. It was allegedly the most popular song sung in both Scotland and Ireland before Robert Burns wrote "Auld Lang Syne"....

"
3012. "Rocky Road to Dublin
Rocky Road To Dublin
"Rocky Road to Dublin" is a fast-paced 19th century song about a man's experiences as he travels to Liverpool, England from his home in Tuam. The tune has a typical Irish rhythm, classified as a slip jig in 9/8 timing, and is often performed instrumentally.- Origin :The words were written by D.K...

"
3038. "Lillibullero
Lillibullero
Lillibullero is a march that sets the words of a satirical ballad generally said to be by Lord Thomas Wharton to music attributed to Henry Purcell. Although Purcell published Lillibullero in his compilation Music's Handmaid of 1689 as "a new Irish tune", it is probable that Purcell hijacked the...

"
3100. "Lang Johnny More
Lang Johnny More
-Synopsis:The song concerns a member of a clan of Scottish giants, one of whom, the Johnnie of the title, goes to visit London and falls in love with the kings daughter. The king subdues Johnnie by giving him drops of Laudanum and imprisoning him...

" (Child 251)
3103. "Black Is the Color (of My True Love's Hair)"
3119. "Deep Blue Sea"
3137. "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye
Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye
"Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye" is a popular traditional Irish anti-war and anti-recruiting song. It is generally dated to the early 19th century, when Irish troops served the British East India Company...

"
3212. "Allison Gross
Allison Gross
"Allison Gross" is a traditional ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad #35. It tells the story of "the ugliest witch in the north country" who tries to persuade a man to become her lover and then punishes him by a transformation.-Synopsis:Allison Gross, a hideous witch, tries to bribe the narrator to...

" (Child 35)
3234. "Sweet Betsy from Pike
Sweet Betsy from Pike
"Sweet Betsy from Pike" is an American ballad about the trials of a pioneer named Betsy and her lover Ike who migrate from Pike County to California. This Gold Rush-era song, with lyrics written by John A. Stone before 1858, was recorded by Burl Ives on February 11, 1941 for his debut album Okeh...

"
3247 "The Ballad of Casey Jones
The Ballad of Casey Jones
"The Ballad of Casey Jones" is a traditional song about railroad engineer Casey Jones and his death at the controls of the train he was driving. It tells of how Jones and his fireman Sim Webb raced their locomotive to make up for lost time, but discovered another train ahead of them on the line,...

"
3278. "The Wearing of the Green
The Wearing of the Green
"The Wearing of the Green" is an anonymously-penned Irish street ballad dating to 1798. The context of the song is the repression around the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Wearing a shamrock in the "caubeen" was a sign of rebellion and green was the colour of the Society of the United...

"
3293. "The Battle of Otterburn" (Child 161)
3296. "The Outlaw Murray" (Child 305)
3297. ""Adam Bell", "Clim of the Clough" or "William of Cloudesly
Adam Bell
Adam Bell was a legendary English outlaw.He and his companions William of Cloudsley and Clym of the Clough lived in Inglewood Forest near Carlisle and were figures similar to Robin Hood...

" (Child 116)
3298. "Robin Hood and Allen A Dale" (Child 138)
3299. "Robin Hood's Death
Robin Hood's Death
Robin Hood's Death is the 120th ballad of the Child ballads collection published by Houghton Mifflin. The fragmentary Percy Folio version of it appears to be one of the oldest existing tales of Robin Hood; there is a synopsis of the story in the fifteenth century A Gest of Robyn Hode...

" (Child 120)
3301. "Leesome Brand
Leesome Brand
-Synopsis:Leesome Brand went to court when ten years old. An eleven-year-old girl fell in love with him, but nine months later, called on him to saddle horses, take her dowry, and flee with her. They headed to his mother's house, but she went into labour on the way...

" (Child 15)
3322. "The Bent Sae Brown
The Bent Sae Brown
-Synopsis:Willie crosses land and sea to his love Annie. She tries to turn him away: her parents and brothers want her to never meet him. He tells her to cover her eyes and carry him to bed, so she can swear that she did not see him come in, and he never trod in her bower. Her mother sends her...

" (Child 71)
3335. "Rose Red and the White Lily
Rose Red and the White Lily
-Synopsis:Rose the Red and White Lily had lost their mother, and their father had remarried an evil stepmother. They had two stepbrothers who fell in love with them, and their stepmother sent them away. When they asked her to treat their loves as well as she treated them, she vowed they would...

" (Child 103)
3336. "Prince Heathen
Prince Heathen
Prince Heathen is Child ballad 104, existing in several variants.-Synopsis:The heroine—Margery May or Margaret—is raped by Prince Heathen, sometimes after he has tried to woo her. Sometimes he tells her he has massacred her family; in all variants, he imprisons her until she bears a child.She has...

" (Child 104)
3339. "Poor Wayfaring Stranger
The Wayfaring Stranger (song)
"The Wayfaring Stranger" , Roud 3339, is a well-known American spiritual/folk song likely originating in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. It became one of Burl Ives's signature songs, included on his 1944 album The Wayfaring Stranger...

"
3364. "Jamis Telfer of the Fair Dodhead" (Child 190)
3391. "Robin Hood and the Beggar, I
Robin Hood and the Beggar, I
"Robin Hood and the Beggar, I" is Child Ballad 133. It is related to Child Ballad 134, called "Robin Hood and the Beggar, II".-Synopsis:Robin Hood and a beggar meet. The beggar begs and is refused; Robin offers to fight him, and is worsted. They exchange clothing. Robin goes to Nottingham as a...

" (Child 133)
3392. "Robin Hood and the Beggar, II" (Child 134)
3393. "The Duke of Athole's Nurse
The Duke of Athole's Nurse
-Synopsis:A man looks to meet his love—sometimes through the intermediary of the Duke of Athole's nurse—and is directed to wait for her at an inn; she will come in the morning. Armed men come instead....

" (Child 212)
3396. "East Virginia"
3413. "Cumberland Gap
Cumberland Gap (folk song)
"Cumberland Gap" is an Appalachian folk song that likely dates to the latter half of the 19th century and was first recorded in 1924. The song is typically played on banjo or fiddle, and well-known versions of the song include instrumental versions as well as versions with lyrics...

"
3426. "Black-Eyed Susie"
3429. "Ida Red
Ida Red
"Ida Red" is an American traditional song of unknown origins. It is chiefly identified by variations of the chorus:Verses are unrelated, rather humorous, and free form, changing from performance to performance. Ida Red's identity is unknown, but is feminine in most uses.The earliest recording is a...

"
3433. "Skip to My Lou
Skip to My Lou
"Skip to My Lou" is a popular children's song.Skip to My Lou was a popular partner-stealing dance from America's frontier period.According to :...

"
3434. "Cripple Creek"
3483. "Lavender Blue
Lavender Blue
"Lavender Blue," also called "Lavender's Blue," is an English folk song and nursery rhyme dating to the seventeenth century, which has been recorded in various forms since the twentieth century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3483...

"
3511. "Blaydon Races
Blaydon Races
Blaydon Races is a famous Geordie folk song written in the 19th century by Geordie Ridley, in a style deriving from music hall. It is regarded by many as the unofficial anthem of Tyneside and is frequently sung by supporters of Newcastle United Football Club and Newcastle Falcons rugby club...

"
3550. "This Old Man
This Old Man
"This Old Man" is an English language children's song, counting and nursery rhyme with a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3550.-Origins and history:The origins of this song are obscure...

"
3599. "Home on the Range
Home on the Range
"Home on the Range" is the state song of Kansas, U.S.Home on the Range may also refer to:* Home on the Range , a drama directed by Arthur Jacobson* Home on the Range , a Disney animated feature film...

"
3604. "The Dreary Black Hills"
3722. "The Whummil Bore
The Whummil Bore
"The Whummil Bore" is Child ballad 27. A whummil is a tool for drilling holes.-Synopsis:The narrator served the king seven years and saw his daughter only once, through a whummil bore. She was being dressed by her maids.-Commentary:...

" (Child 27)
3723. "The Queen of Elfan's Nourice
The Queen of Elfan's Nourice
"The Queen of Elfan's Nourice" or "The Queen of Elfland's Nourice" is Child ballad number 40, although fragmentary in form.-Synopsis:A mortal woman laments being taken from her four-day-old son. The Queen of Elfland promises that if she nurses the queen's child, she will be returned...

" (Child 40)
3753. "Three Blind Mice
Three Blind Mice
Three Blind Mice is an English nursery rhyme and musical round. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3753.-Lyrics:The modern words are:-Variations and uses:Amateur music composer Thomas Oliphant noted in 1843 that:...

"
3756. "The Arkansas Traveler
The Arkansas Traveler (song)
"The Arkansas Traveler" was the state song of Arkansas from 1949 to 1963; it has been the state historical song since 1987. The music was composed in the 19th century by Colonel Sanford C...

"
3767. "Puttin' On the Style
Puttin' On the Style
Puttin' On the Style was a 1957 hit for skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan. It was recorded live at the London Palladium and released as a double A side along with Gamblin' Man and reached #1 in the UK charts in June and July 1957, where it spent two weeks in this position.This was the last record to...

"
3801. "Caledonia
Caledonia (song)
Caledonia is a modern Scottish folk ballad written by Dougie MacLean somewhere between 1974 and 1977. and published in 1979 on an album of the same name. The chorus features the lyrics "Caledonia, you're calling me, and now I'm going home". MacLean plays the song in the key of E using Open C tuning...

"
3855. "Clerk Saunders
Clerk Saunders
-Synopsis:Clerk Saunders and may Margaret are walking in the garden. He persuades her to go to bed with him before their marriage, saying that he will let himself in and she can cover her eyes, so that she can swear that she did not let him in or see him...

" (Child 69)
3856. "Jock the Leg and the Merry Merchant
Jock the Leg and the Merry Merchant
-Synopsis:Jock the Leg and a merchant meet; Jock tries to get him to pay at a tavern. Then Jock wakes him and tells him they should be on their way. The merchant says he can not take the roads Jock wants, because Jock the Leg would rob him. Jock says he'll protect him. In the forest, Jock tries...

" (Child 282)
3875. "Young Peggy" (Child 298)
3876. "The Laird of Wairston" (Child 194)
3878. "The Queen of Scotland
The Queen of Scotland
The Queen of Scotland is Child ballad 301.-Synopsis:The Queen of Scotland tries to lure Troy Muir to her bed. When she fails, she directs him to lift a stone in her garden, and a hungry snake emerges. A woman cut off her breast to appease the beast, and the wound healed within an hour. Troy...

" (Child 301)
3879. "The Earl of Mar's Daughter
The Earl of Mar's Daughter
-Synopsis:The Earl of Mar's daughter saw a lovely bird, and promised it a golden cage if it would come to her. It did, and that night transformed into a prince in her bedroom. His mother had transformed him to that form. They lived together; she bore seven sons, but the prince carried them safe...

" (Child 270)
3880. "Earl Crawford
Earl Crawford
-Synopsis:Earl Crawford marries the youngest of seven sisters. She has a son. One day, she complains that he makes too much of the boy. Angry, he sends her back to her father. Her father goes back to appeal to him, and he refuses to take her back. She receives the news and dies. He receives...

" (Child 229)
3881. "Charlie MacPherson" (Child 234)
3882. "Brown Robyn's Confession
Brown Robyn's Confession
-Synopsis:Brown Robyn goes to sea. On shipboard, they are unable to see any lights in the sky. They "cast kevels" which indicated that it was because of Brown Robyn. He confesses to incestous relations with his mother and his sister , or, in other variants, to killing his father...

" (Child 57)
3883. "Child Owlet
Child Owlet
Child Owlet is Child ballad 291 and a murder ballad. It was performed by English folk-rock band Steeleye Span on their album They Called Her Babylon.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 291)
3884. "Lady Isabel
Lady Isabel
-Synopsis:Her stepmother says that Lady Isabel is said to be her father's whore, and cites that he dresses his daughter better than her, his wife. Isabel denies it, says their clothing befits their ages, and claims a lover beyond the sea. Her stepmother offers her a poisoned drink; she puts it to...

" (Child 261)
3885. "Bonny Bee Hom
Bonny Bee Hom
-Synopsis:A lady laments that her love had left her. He, still there, comes to comfort her but tells her that he is sworn to leave. She gives him a ring: while he wears it, he will shed no blood, but if he sees the stone fade, he will know she is dead. He has not been gone more than months when...

" (Child 92)
3886. "The Holy Nunnery" (Child 303)
3887. "The New-Slain Knight
The New-Slain Knight
-Synopsis:A man tells a woman that he has seen a knight murdered outside her father's garden. She insists on a description and laments that she has no father for her baby. He offers to take her love's place, and she refuses. He pulls off his disguise and reveals himself as her love, and assures...

" (Child 263)
3888. "The White Fisher
The White Fisher
The White Fisher is Child ballad 264, existing in different variants.-Synopsis:A man tells his wife that they have been married only one month and asks why the child is quickening. The woman blames her pregnancy on a priest, or on a kitchen boy...

" (Child 264)
3889. "The Knight's Ghost
The Knight's Ghost
-Synopsis:A woman goes to bring her son to the shore, to greet her husband. She receives news that he was killed in the city they had gone to. She invites his men to the castle to drink, gets them drunk in the cellar, locks them in, and throws the keys into the sea...

" (Child 265)
3890. "Thomas o Yonderdale" (Child 253)
3902. "The Clerk's Twa Sons O Owsenford
The Clerk's Twa Sons o Owsenford
-Synopsis:The clerk's two sons seduce the two daughters of a mayor. The mayor sentences them to hang. Their father comes to plead for them, but is unsuccessful...

" (Child 72)
3904. "Blancheflour and Jollyflorice
Blancheflour and Jollyflorice
"Blancheflour and Jollyflorice" is a traditional ballad from Great Britain, It is included in a collection published as "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads between 1882 and 1898" by Francis James Child in the late 19th century...

" (Child 300)
3908. "Bonny John Seton" (Child 198)
3909. "Lord Livingstone" (Child 262)
3910. "Willie and the Earl Richard's Daughter" (Child 102)
3911. "Young Benjie
Young Benjie
-Synopsis:Young Benjie and Marjorie are lovers. They quarrel. She says she would take another love. Benjie tries to get in when her brothers are gone; when she refuses, he says he will take another. She comes down, and he murders her and throws her body in the river.Her brothers find her body...

" (Child 86)
3912. "Kemp Owyne
Kemp Owyne
-Synopsis:The heroine is turned into a worm , usually by her stepmother, who curses her to remain so until the king's son comes to kiss her three times. When he arrives, she offers him a belt, a ring, and a sword to kiss her, promising the things would magically protect him; the third time, she...

" (Child 34)
3914. "Young Ronald
Young Ronald
-Synopsis:Young Ronald falls in love with the daughter of the King of Linn. She tells him she's too young, his mother tells him that she's refused many, and Ronald takes to his bed. His father weeps for his son's illness, and Ronald rouses himself, to ride back to the princess...

" (Child 304)
3915. "Auld Matrons
Auld Matrons
-Synopsis:Willie comes to his love, Annie, and she urges him to come to bed. He is wary of the auld Matrons, sitting by the fire, but Annie says she never moves. As soon as they're gone, auld Matrons wakes the sheriff with the news that his daughter's abed with a lover. The sheriff rouses his men....

" (Child 249)
3918. "James Grant
James Grant
James Grant may refer to:*James Grant , American author, journalist, and publisher of Grant's Interest Rate Observer*James Grant , California painter and sculptor...

" (Child 197)
3925. "Walter Lesly
Walter Lesly
-Synopsis:Walter Lesly asks a lady to come to Conland. Then his kinsmen, led by Geordy Lesly, carry her off. A wedding feast is ready, and they are put in bed together. When he is asleep, she gets up, dresses, and runs off, swearing to deal no more with him....

" (Child 296)
3928. "Dugall Quin
Dugall Quin
-Synopsis:Dugall Quin wooes Lisie Meanes, asking her how she likes him in his ragged dress; she answers that she likes him and asks how he likes her in her fine clothing; he likes her and asks her to come with him. Her father asks her not to go. She defies him. Dugall tells her that if he comes...

" (Child 294)
3931. "The Bonny Lass of Anglesey
The Bonny Lass of Anglesey
-Synopsis:Fifteen English lords come to the king "To dance and win the victory." He gets the bonny lass to dance with them, offering her lands and either the fairest knight , or the bravest, in his court. She wins...

" (Child 220)
3935. "Young Bearwell" (Child 302)

3955. "Robin Hood and the Bishop
Robin Hood and the Bishop
Robin Hood and the Bishop is number 143 in Francis James Child's collection of Child ballads, and describes an adventure of Robin Hood.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 143)
3956. "Robin Hood and the Newly Revived" (Child 128)
3957. "Robin Hood Rescuing Will Stutly
Robin Hood Rescuing Will Stutly
-Synopsis:Robin Hood is brought news that the Sheriff of Nottingham surprised Will Stutely, and though he killed two of the Sheriff's men, he was captured. They set out to rescue him, confirm the story from a palmer, and arrive as he is being brought out. Will Stutly offers to fight the sheriff's...

" (Child 141)
3958. "The Noble Fisherman" or "Robin Hood's Preferment
The Noble Fisherman
The Noble Fisherman or Robin Hood's Preferment is Child ballad 148, a tale of Robin Hood.-Synopsis:Robin Hood decides to go to sea. Posing as a poor fisherman, he is hired by a woman with a boat, but laughed at for his lack of seamanship. French pirates try to take the ship, but Robin shoots them...

" (Child 148)
3959. "The West Country Damosel's Complaint
The West Country Damosel's Complaint
-Synopsis:The heroine demands of William that he will marry her or kill her. He warns her that living with him in the wild will be very hard. She comes, but after three months has enough of cold and hunger and goes to her sister, begging for alms. Her sister calls up her huntsman and has them...

" (Child 292)
3960. "Sheath and Knife
Sheath and Knife
"Sheath and Knife" is a folk ballad.-Synopsis:A woman is pregnant with her brother's child. He takes her to the greenwood to have her child, but she dies...

" (Child 16)
3961. "The Boy and the Mantle
The Boy and the Mantle
"The Boy and the Mantle" is Child ballad number 29, an Arthurian story.Unlike the ballads before it, and like "King Arthur and King Cornwall" and "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" immediately after it in the collection, this is not a folk ballad but a song from professional minstrels.-Synopsis:A boy...

" (Child 29)
3962. "Burd Ellen and Young Tamlane
Burd Ellen and Young Tamlane
Burd Ellen and Young Tamlane is Child ballad number 28.Despite similarity in names, it appears to have no connection with Tam Lin, nor with the tale of Childe Rowland, though they both have characters named Burd Ellen; indeed, Francis James Child was unable to connect this ballad with any other...

" (Child 28)
3963. "St. Stephen and Herod" (Child 22)
3964. "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:...

(Child 23)
3965. "King Arthur and King Cornwall
King Arthur and King Cornwall
"King Arthur and King Cornwall" is an English ballad surviving in fragmentary form in the 17th-century Percy Folio manuscript. An Arthurian story, it was collected by Francis James Child as Child Ballad 30. Unlike other Child Ballads, but like the Arthurian "The Boy and the Mantle" and "The...

" (Child 30)
3966. "The Marriage of Sir Gawain
The Marriage of Sir Gawain
"The Marriage of Sir Gawain" is an English Arthurian ballad, collected as Child Ballad 31. Found in the Percy Folio, it is a fragmented account of the story of Sir Gawain and the loathly lady, which has been preserved in fuller form in the medieval poem The Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle...

" (Child 31)
3967. "King Henry" (Child 32)
3968. "The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea
The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea
"The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea" is Child ballad number 36.-Synopsis:A young man, transformed into a laily worm, tells his story: his father married an evil woman as his stepmother, and she transformed him into a worm and his sister into a mackerel. His sister combed his hair every...

" (Child 36)
3969. "Sir Aldingar
Sir Aldingar
Sir Aldingar is Child ballad 59. Francis James Child collected three variants, two fragmentary, in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. All three recount the tale where a rebuffed Sir Aldingar slanders his mistress, Queen Eleanor, and a miraclous champion saves her.Various forms of the...

" (Child 59)
3970. "King Estmere
King Estmere
King Estmere is an English and Scottish Child ballad and number 60 of 305 ballads collected by Francis James Child.-Synopsis:King Estmere's brother Alder the Younger urges him to marry King Adland's daughter, and suggests that he look at the lady himself, rather than be deceived by any description...

" (Child 60)
3971. "Old Robin of Portingale
Old Robin of Portingale
-Synopsis:It opens with a warning against old men marrying young women.Old Robin of Portingale marries the daughter of the mayor of Linn. She soon goes to Sir Gyles and asks his help in murdering her husband. They make plans to attack him with twenty-four knights. His foot page overhears and weeps...

" (Child 80)
3972. "The Bonny Birdy
The Bonny Birdy
-Synopsis:A knight is riding when a bird asks him why he is about so late and tells him his wife is with her lover. It had been a wild bird until the lover caught it and gave it to his love. She did not feed it well, so it is telling her story. It flew with the knight to her bower, and sang of...

" (Child 82)
3973. "Will Stewart and John
Will Stewart and John
Will Steward and John is Child ballad 107, indexed as such in Francis James Child's 19th century collection of English and Scottish ballads.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 107)
3974. "Christopher White" (Child 108)
3975. "Crow and Pie
Crow and Pie
Crow and Pie is Child ballad 111. It is one of the oldest preserved ballads, dating to circa 1500. Pie is the now-obsolete original name for the magpie, a bird often connected with sorrow and misfortune...

" (Child 111)
3976. "Robyn and Gandeleyn
Robyn and Gandeleyn
-Synopsis:Robyn kills a deer and is shot and killed. Gandeleyn looks about for the killer and finds Wrennok of Donne. They exchange words, and Gandeleyn says they shall shoot at a mark of each other's hearts...

" (Child 115)
3977. "Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne
Guy of Gisbourne
Sir Guy of Gisbourne is a character from the Robin Hood legends of English folklore. In The Ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne , he hunts Robin for the Sheriff of Nottingham, but Robin kills him and cuts off his head...

" (Child 118)
3978. "Robin Hood and the Monk
Robin Hood and the Monk
Robin Hood and the Monk is Child ballad 119, and among the oldest existing ballads of Robin Hood, existing in manuscript from about 1450 AD.It may have been originally recited rather than sung; it refers to itself as a "talking" in its last verse:...

" (Child 119)
3979. "Robin Hood and the Potter
Robin Hood and the Potter
Robin Hood and the Potter is Child ballad 121, and among the oldest existing tales of Robin Hood.The device of disguising himself as a potter may have been taken from the older legends of Hereward the Wake.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 121)
3980. "Robin Hood and the Butcher
Robin Hood and the Butcher
Robin Hood and the Butcher is Child ballad 122. It may have been derived from the similar Robin Hood and the Potter.-Synopsis:Robin Hood meets with a butcher. In some variants, he fights with him. He always buys his goods and goes into Nottingham, where he sells the meat at ridiculously low...

" (Child 122)
3981. "The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield
The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield
The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield is Child ballad 124, about Robin Hood. The oldest manuscript was published in 1632 but is believed to based on works at least a century older. A fragmentary version appears in The Percy Folio.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 124)
3982. "Robin Hood and the Tinker
Robin Hood and the Tinker
-Synopsis:Robin Hood meets with a tinker and tells him that two tinkers were put in the stocks for drinking ale and beer. The tinker tells him that he has a warrant for Robin Hood in his pouch. Robin tells him to come with him to Nottingham. They stop at an inn to drink. When the tinker is...

" (Child 127)
3983. "Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon
Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon
Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon is Child ballad 129. Showing more imagination than fidelity to tradition, it catches up Robin Hood into a tale of chivalrous adventures, such as are uncommon in his ballads, and has seldom been featured in later tales....

" (Child 129)
3984. "Robin Hood and the Scotchman
Robin Hood and the Scotchman
-Synopsis:Robin Hood goes north and meets with a Scot, who wishes to enter his service. Robin refuses, because the Scot will prove false. A fight ensues. One variants is truncated at this point, but the other ends with the man entering his service....

" (Child 130)
3985. "Robin Hood and the Shepherd
Robin Hood and the Shepherd
-Synopsis:Robin Hood meets with a shepherd and demands to know what he has in his bottle; when the shepherd refuses, he says it will go worse with him if he does not give him some. Robin lays twenty pounds on a fight, and the shepherd agrees to bet his bottle and bag against it. They fight. ...

" (Child 135)
3986. "Robin Hood's Delight
Robin Hood's Delight
-Synopsis:Robin Hood, Will Scarlock, and Little John are walking in the forest when they met with three foresters, who fight with them. They refuse Robin permission to sound his horn, but Robin persuades them to go to an inn, and there they drink instead of fighting.-External links:**...

" (Child 136)
3987. "Robin Hood and the Pedlars
Robin Hood and the Pedlars
-Synopsis:Robin Hood, Little John, and Will Scarlet meet up with three pedlars and urge them to stay; they go on. Robin shoots at one, striking through his pack to the skin, with force enough to kill him without the pack having been in the way. They throw down their packs and await Robin, but the...

" (Child 137)
3988. "Little John A Begging
Little John a Begging
Little John A Begging is Child ballad 142 and about Robin Hood. It exists in two variants, one fragmentary.-Synopsis:In one variant, Robin Hood sends Little John out, disguised as a beggar. In the fragmentary one, Little John apparently exchanges clothing with a beggar, as the surviving ballads...

" (Child 142)
3989. "Robin Hood's Chase
Robin Hood's Chase
Robin Hood's Chase is Child ballad 146, and a sequel to Child ballad 145, Robin Hood and Queen Katherine.-Synopsis:It opens an account of the archery contest in Robin Hood and Queen Katherine, and King Henry chases Robin to Yorkshire, Newcastle, Berwick, and many more towns...

" (Child 146)
3990. "Robin Hood's Golden Prize
Robin Hood's Golden Prize
-Synopsis:Robin Hood disguises himself as a friar and begged from two priests. They said they had no money. He forced them to remain with him and pray for money. When several hours had passed, he searched them and found five hundred pounds...

" (Child 147)
3991. "Robin Hood's Birth, Breeding, Valor and Marriage" (Child 149)
3992. "Robin Hood and Maid Marian
Maid Marian
Maid Marian is the wife of the legendary English outlaw Robin Hood. Stemming from another, older tradition, she became associated with Robin Hood only in the 16th century.-History:The earliest medieval Robin Hood stories gave him no female companion...

" (Child 150)
3993. "The King's Disguise, and Friendship with Robin Hood
The King's Disguise, and Friendship with Robin Hood
The King’s Disguise, and Friendship with Robin Hood is Child ballad 151. It holds the common tradition of the end of Robin Hood's outlawry, although it is a relative late ballad, as it puts Robin firmly in King Richard's reign...

" (Child 151)
3994. "Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow
Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow
-Synopsis:The sheriff of Nottingham complains to King Richard of Robin Hood.-Portrayals:An altered version of the tale appears in the first episode of the Robin of Sherwood television series, in which the prize offered is a silver arrow belonging to Herne the Hunter as a means of luring Robin to...

" (Child 152)
3995. "Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight
Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight
-Synopsis:The king and nobles meet to consider Robin Hood. They send Sir William with a hundred men. Sir William presents him with a letter from the king ordering Robin to surrender. When Robin refuses, Sir William attempts to seize him on the spot. Both Sir William and Robin summoned their...

" (Child 153)
3996. "A True Tale of Robin Hood
A True Tale of Robin Hood
A True Tale of Robin Hood is Child ballad 154, featuring Robin Hood and, indeed, presents a full account of his life, from before his becoming an outlaw, to his death. It describes him as the Earl of Huntington, which is a fairly late development in the ballads...

" (Child 154)
3997. "Hugh Spencer's Feats in France" (Child 158)
3998. "Durham Ford" (Child 159)
3999. "The Knight of Liddesdale" (Child 160)
4000. "Sir John Butler" (Child 165)
4001. "The Rose of England
The Rose of England
The Rose of England is Child ballad 166. It is an account of Henry VII of England claiming the throne from Richard III of England, frequently allegorically...

" (Child 166)
4002. "Thomas Cromwell" (Child 171)
4003. "Musselburgh Field" (Child 172)
4004. "Earl Bothwell" (Child 174)
4005. "The Rising of the North" (Child 175)
4006. "Northumberland Betrayed By Douglas" (Child 176)
4007. "The Earl of Westmoreland" (Child 177)
4008. "Rookhope Ryde" (Child 179)
4009. "King James and Brown" (Child 180)
4010. "Willie MacIntosh" (Child 183)
4011. "The Lads of Wamphray
The Lads of Wamphray
The Lads of Wamphray is Child ballad 184, existing in fragmentary form. According to Walter Scott and others, the ballad concerns a 16th century feud between reiving families from Wamphray in the Scottish Borders.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 184)
4012. "Dick o the Cow
Dick o the Cow
Dick o the Cow is Child ballad 185 and a border ballad. Unusually for that genre, its hero is not the outlaw.-Synopsis:John Armstrang raids England, but finds only six sheep, which would humiliate him to steal. He asks his companion, Billie, about a man they met; Billie says that he's a...

" (Child 185)
4013. "Kinmont Willie" (Child 186)
4014. "Hobie Noble
Hobie Noble
-Synopsis:Hobie Noble, an Englishman, was outlawed and fled to Scotland. A traitor tried persuade him to come to England. The traitor failed, but learned where Hobie was going, and sent word. Hobie dreamed that he was attacked and woke. He and his men tried to escape, but his attackers found...

" (Child 189)
4015. "Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight
Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight
Lord Maxwell’s Last Goodnight is Child ballad 195. John, 8th Lord Maxwell, did historically kill Sir James Johnstone as the culmination of a family feud and was forced to leave Scotland to escape the death penalty. However, he came back in secret five years later. He was apprehended and...

" (Child 195)
4016. "The Battle of Philiphaugh" (Child 202)
4017. "The Baron of Brackley" (Child 203)
4018. "Loudon Hill" (Child 205)
4019. "The Lady of Arngosk" (Child 224)
4020. "The Slaughter of the Laird of Mellerstain" (Child 230)
4021. "The Coble o Cargill" (Child 242)
4022. "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....

" (Child 244)
4023. "Lady Elspat
Lady Elspat
-Synopsis:Elspat agrees to meet with Sweet William, but her brother's page overhears them and tells her mother, who imprisons them. When the justice comes to town, the mother accuses him of breaking into her castle and robbing her. Elspat tells that he and she are in love, and her mother objects...

" (Child 247)
4024. "Lord Thomas Stuart
Lord Thomas Stuart
-Synopsis:Thomas Stuart wooes the Countess of Balquhin and gives her, as her morning gift, Strathboggie and Aboyne. She insists on seeing them. They ride off, and he takes ill. He sends her on....

" (Child 259)
4025. "Earl Rothes" (Child 297)
4177. "Duncan and Brady
Duncan and Brady
"Duncan and Brady", also known as "Been on the Job Too Long", "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", or simply "Brady", is a traditional murder ballad about the shooting of a policeman, Brady, by a bartender, Duncan. The song's lyrics stemmed from actual events, involving the shooting of James Brady in...
4192. "Tom Dooley
Tom Dooley (song)
"Tom Dooley" is an old North Carolina folk song based on the 1866 murder of a woman named Laura Foster in Wilkes County, North Carolina. It is best known today because of a hit version recorded in 1958 by The Kingston Trio. This version was a multi-format hit, reaching #1 in Billboard, the...

"
4209. "Shortnin' Bread
Shortnin' Bread
"Shortnin' Bread" is a song by James Whitcomb Riley.-History:...

"
4211. *Bile Them Cabbage Down"
4221. "Cod Liver Oil
Cod Liver Oil (song)
"Cod Liver Oil" is a song about a traditional medicinal drink for many Newfoundlanders. Cod liver oil in the traditional way of manufacture was sun cured and served in bottles in its raw form. The song was written by Johnny Burke , a balladeer from St. John's, Newfoundland...

"
4247. "Turkey in the Straw
Turkey in the Straw
"Turkey in the Straw" is a well-known American folk song dating from the early 19th century.The song's tune was first popularized in the late 1820s and early 1830s by blackface performers, notably George Washington Dixon, Bob Farrell and George Nichols. Another song, "Zip Coon", was sung to the...

"
4299. "Take This Hammer
Take This Hammer
"Take This Hammer" is a prison work song. It was collected by John and Alan Lomax. The song "Nine Pound Hammer" has a few phrases in common with this song, and the same Roud number. "Swannanoa Tunnel" is similar, and this group of songs are referred to as 'hammer songs' or 'roll songs'...

"
4321. "Abdul Abulbul Amir
Abdul Abulbul Amir
"Abdul Abulbul Amir" is a poem written in 1877 by Percy French and later set to music. It tells the story of two valiant heroes — a Russian, Ivan Skavinsky Skavar, and one of the Shah's mamelukes, Abdul Abulbul Amir — who because of their pride end up in a fight and kill each other...

"
4427. "Feller from Fortune
Feller from Fortune
Feller from Fortune is a Newfoundland folk song. It was collected by Margaret Sargant and Kenneth Peacock in Newfoundland in 1950/1 and first appeared in print in the mid 1950s...

"
4439. "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep (nursery rhyme)
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep is an English nursery rhyme, sung to a variant of the 1761 French melody Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman. The original form of the tune is used for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Alphabet song. The words have changed little in two and a half centuries...

"
4456. "Shady Grove
Shady Grove (song)
"Shady Grove" is an 18th-century folk song popular in the United States. It is a standard in the repertoires of folk, Celtic and bluegrass musicians. In most traditional versions, the melody is in a minor key...

"
4501. "Yankee Doodle
Yankee Doodle
"Yankee Doodle" is a well-known Anglo-American song, the origin of which dates back to the Seven Years' War. It is often sung patriotically in the United States today and is the state anthem of Connecticut...

"
4541. "Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor
Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor
"Jack Was Every Inch A Sailor" is a traditional Newfoundland and Labrador folk song. It is a comical retelling of the Jonah tale, with a Newfoundland whaler as protagonist, but in this instance the whale gets his comeuppance....

"
4542. "The Badger Drive
The Badger Drive
The Badger Drive is a traditional Newfoundland folk song/ballad. The song is about a lumber drive near Badger, Newfoundland. As with many Newfoundland ballads the lyrics are about places and events and sometimes actual individuals, this song has all those qualities.-Lyrics:There is one class of men...

"
4556. "Uncle Sam's Farm
Uncle Sam's Farm
Uncle Sam's Farm is a song based on a poem by Jesse Hutchinson, Jr., written to encourage immigration to the American West. It was popularized by the Hutchinson Family Singers...

"
4704. "Barnacle Bill
Barnacle Bill (song)
"Barnacle Bill the Sailor" is an American drinking song adapted from "Bollocky Bill the Sailor", a traditional folk song originally titled "Abraham Brown"....

"
4746. "Old Settler's Song
Old Settler's Song (Acres of Clams)
"Old Settler's Song " is a Northwest United States folk song written by Francis D. Henry around 1874. The lyrics are sung to the tune "Old Rosin the Beau." The song also goes by the names "Acres of Clams", “Lay of the Old Settler,” “Old Settler’s Song,” while the melody is known as “Rosin the...

"
4753. "Worried Man Blues
Worried Man Blues
"Worried Man Blues" is a folk song in the roots music repertoire. Like many folks songs passed by oral tradition, the lyrics vary from version to version, but generally all contain the chorus "It takes a worried man to sing a worried song/It takes a worried man to sing a worried song/I'm worried...

"
4766. "Rolling Home"
4790. "Cocaine Bill" or "Cocaine Bill and Morphine Sue"
4796. "The Sash
The Sash
The Sash is a ballad from Ireland commemorating the victory of King William III in the Williamite war in Ireland in 1690–1691....

" ("The Hat My Father Wore")
4801. "Star of the County Down
Star of the County Down
"Star of the County Down" is an old Irish ballad set near Banbridge in County Down, in Ireland. The words are by Cathal McGarvey, 1866-1927, from Ramelton, County Donegal...

"
4826. "There Was a Crooked Man
There Was a Crooked Man
There Was a Crooked Man is a nursery rhyme. The phrase can also refer to:*There Was a Crooked Man..., a 1970 western film starring Kirk Douglas and Henry Fonda*There Was a Crooked Man , featuring Norman Wisdom...

"
4833. "Johnston's Motor Car
Johnston's Motor Car
Johnston's Motor Car is an Irish rebel song written by Willy Gillespie based on the commandeering of a motor car belonging to a Doctor Johnston by the Irish Republican Army....

"
4836. "Good Ship Venus
Good Ship Venus
"Good Ship Venus", also known as "Friggin' in the Riggin", is a bawdy drinking song devised to shock with ever increasingly lewd and debauched sexual descriptions of the eponymous ship's loose moralled crew. The tune usually used is "In and Out the Windows".- Lyrics :The lyrics exist in numerous...

"
4837. "I Used to Work in Chicago
I Used to Work in Chicago
"I Used to Work in Chicago" is a humorous traditional drinking song. It was written by songwriter and entertainer Larry Vincent. The earliest printed date for the song is March 1945 in the underground mimeographed songbook Songs of the Century. Many of the lyrics are considered humorous because...

"
4957. "I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground
I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground
I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground is a traditional American folk song. It was most famously recorded and archived in the Library of Congress by Bascom Lamar Lunsford in 1924. It has also been recorded by many other performers....

"
4998. "The Vicar of Bray
The Vicar of Bray (song)
"The Vicar of Bray" is a satirical songrecounting the career of the Vicar of Bray and his contortions of principle in order to retain his ecclesiastic office despite the changes in the Established Church through the course of several English monarchs...

"
5234. "Banna Strand
Banna Strand (song)
Banna Strand is an Irish rebel song about the failed transport of arms into Ireland for use in the Easter Rising. Authorship of the song is unknown...

"
5249. "Pop Goes the Weasel
Pop Goes the Weasel
"Pop! Goes the Weasel" is an English language nursery rhyme and singing game. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 5249.-Lyrics:There are many different versions of the lyrics to the song...

"
5439. "Wade in the Water
Wade in the water
"Wade in the Water" is the name of an African-American spiritual first published in New Jubilee Songs as Sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers by John Wesley Work II and his brother, Frederick J...

"
5470. "The Frozen Logger
Frozen Logger
The Frozen Logger is an American folk song, written by James Stevens. It is a tall tale song which makes reference to a logger being identifiable by the habit of stirring coffee with his thumb.-Discography:* The Weavers 1951...

"
5517. "Ye Jacobites by Name
Ye Jacobites by Name
Ye Jacobites by Name is a traditional Scottish folk song which goes back to the Jacobite Risings in Scotland . While the original version simply attacked the Jacobites from a contemporaneous Whig point of view, Robert Burns rewrote it in around 1791 to give a version with a more general, humanist...

" (Hogg 34)
5701. "I Know Where I'm Going
I Know Where I'm Going (song)
"I Know Where I'm Going" is a traditional Scottish or Irish ballad about a woman pining for her "bonnie" lover Johnny. It is Roud number 5701. It was recorded by Burl Ives on 31 March 1941 for his debut album Okeh Presents the Wayfaring Stranger...

"
5723. "Darlin' Cory
Darlin' Cory
"Darlin' Cory " is a well-known folk song about a banjo-picking, moonshine-making mountain woman. The first known recording of it was by Clarence Gill as "Little Corey" on 6 January 1927, but it was rejected by the record company and never released. A few months later, folk singer Buell Kazee...

"
6287. "Kate Dalrymple
Kate Dalrymple
"Kate Dalrymple" is a traditional Scottish reel in the key of A. The melody is based on an ancient folk-tune. There are accompanying words, written by William Watt, and the piece is something of a tongue-twister to sing for those unfamiliar with the Scots language...

"
6294. "Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...

"
6306. "The Farmer in the Dell
The Farmer in the Dell
"The Farmer in the Dell" is a singing game, nursery rhyme and children's song. It probably originated in Germany, and was brought to North America by immigrants. From there it spread to many other nations and is popular in a number of languages. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of...

"
6364 "Midnight Special
Midnight Special (song)
"Midnight Special" is a traditional folk song thought to have originated among prisoners in the American South. The title comes from the refrain which refers to the Midnight Special and its "ever-loving light" ....

"
6487. "Little Bo Peep
Little Bo Peep
"Little Bo Peep" or "Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6487.-Lyrics:As with most products of oral tradition, there are many variations to the rhyme...

"
6489. "Hickory Dickory Dock
Hickory Dickory Dock
"Hickory Dickory Dock" or "Hickety Dickety Dock" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6489.-Lyrics:The most common modern version is:Hickory, dickory, dock,The mouse ran up the clock....

"
6562. "Annan Water" (Child 215 App.)
6695. "The Colorado Trail"
6696. "Big Rock Candy Mountain
Big Rock Candy Mountain
Big Rock Candy Mountain, first recorded by Harry McClintock in 1928, is a song about a hobo's idea of paradise, a modern version of the medieval concept of Cockaigne...

"
6702. "This Train"
6711. "Long John"
6739. "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake
The George Aloe and the Sweepstake
The George Aloe and the Sweepstake or The Coasts of High Barbary is Child ballad 285.In 1595, a ballad was entered into the Stationers' Register with the note that it was to be sung to the tune of The George Aloe and the Sweepstake.-Synopsis:...

" (Child 285)
6740. "Young Andrew
Young Andrew
-Synopsis:Andrew seduces Helen and tells her he will fulfill his promise to marry her only if she brings him her father's gold. She does. He robs her not only of it but all her clothing. She goes home, naked. Her father is furious. Her heart breaks, killing her, and her father regrets it...

" (Child 48)
7046. "Danville Girl"
7052. "Charming Betsy
Dinah, Dinah Show us your Leg
Dinah, Dinah Show us your Leg is an American bawdy song.The formula is a descending scale: "Rich girl [does something,] Poor girl [does something else], my girl don't [do whatever the other two do, usually with comic effect.]...

"
7480. "Columbus Stockade Blues"
7501. "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
He's Got the Whole World in His Hands
"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" is a traditional American spiritual. It was first published in the paperbound hymnal Spirituals Triumphant, Old and New, in 1927. In 1933, it was collected by Frank Warner from the singing of Sue Thomas in North Carolina...

"
7622. "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
7666. "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
7686. "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains"
7899. "Polly Put the Kettle On
Polly Put the Kettle On
"Polly Put the Kettle On" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7899.-Lyrics:Common modern versions include:In middle-class families in the mid-eighteenth century "Sukey" was equivalent to "Susan" and Polly was a pet-form of Mary.The nursery rhyme is...

"
7922. "The Muffin Man
The Muffin Man
"The Muffin Man" is a traditional nursery rhyme or children's song of English origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7922.-Lyrics:The most widely known lyrics are as follows:Do [or "Oh, do"] you know the muffin man,...

"
7925. "Ring a Ring O'Roses
Ring a Ring O'Roses
"Ring a Ring o' Roses" or "Ring Around the Rosie" is a nursery rhyme or folksong and playground singing game. It first appeared in print in 1881; but it is reported that a version was already being sung to the current tune in the 1790s. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7925...

"
7992. "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
"Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" is an American folk song that responds with humorous sarcasm to unhelpful moralizing about the circumstance of being a hobo....

"
8136. "Éamonn an Chnoic (Ned of the Hill)
Éamonn an Chnoic
"Éamonn an Chnoic" is a popular song in traditional Irish music. It is a slow, mournful ballad with a somber theme and no chorus.-Overview:...

"
8187. "Braes o' Killiecrankie
Braes o' Killiecrankie
Braes o' Killiecrankie is the name of four distinct folk songs, all originally from Scotland.The version that begins with the line "Whare hae ye been sae braw, lad?" is the one discussed here. The versions that begin with the line "Clavers and his highland men" are either the Scots version or the...

"
8194. "Lyke-Wake Dirge
Lyke-Wake Dirge
The "Lyke-Wake Dirge" is a traditional English song that tells of the soul's travel, and the hazards it faces, on its way from earth to Heaven. Though the song is from the Christian era and features references to Christianity much of the symbolism is thought to be of heathen origin.-The title:The...

"
8231. "Dixie
Dixie (song)
Countless lyrical variants of "Dixie" exist, but the version attributed to Dan Emmett and its variations are the most popular. Emmett's lyrics as they were originally intended reflect the mood of the United States in the late 1850s toward growing abolitionist sentiment. The song presented the point...

"
8234. "Across the Western Ocean"
8460. "Over the Hills and Far Away (traditional)
Over the Hills and Far Away (traditional)
"Over the Hills and Far Away" is a traditional English song, dating back to at least the late 17th century. One version was published in Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy; a very different one appeared in George Farquhar's 1706 play The Recruiting Officer...

"

9,000 and above

9266. "Down by the Glenside (The Bold Fenian Men)
Down by the Glenside (The Bold Fenian Men)
"Down by the Glenside " is an Irish rebel song written by Peadar Kearney, an Irish Republican and composer of numerous rebel songs, including "The Soldier's Song" , now the Irish National Anthem....

"
9595. "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away
On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away
"On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away" was among the best-selling songs of the 19th century in terms of sheet music sold. Written and composed by American songwriter Paul Dresser, it was published by the Tin Pan Alley firm of Howley, Haviland & Co. in October 1897. The lyrics of the ballad...

"
9634. "The Rising of the Moon
The Rising of the Moon
"The Rising of the Moon" is an Irish ballad recounting a battle between the United Irishmen and the British Army during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.-Description:...

"
9435. "Leaving of Liverpool
Leaving of Liverpool
"Leaving of Liverpool", , also known as "Fare Thee Well, My Own True Love", is a folk ballad, a popular and wistful song. The song's narrator laments his long sailing trip to America and the thought of leaving his birthplace and loved ones...

"
9598. "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond
The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond
"The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond", or simply "Loch Lomond" for short, is a well-known traditional Scottish song . It was first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland....

"
9618. "Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire
Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire
Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire is a war song of World War I. The song sarcastically recounts the location of various army members, not to be found in the combat zone, and concludes by describing the location of the old battalion: "hanging on the old barbed wire"...

"
9753. "Mursheen Durkin
Mursheen Durkin
To the alehouse and the playhouse and many's the house besides,But I told me brother Seamus I'd go off and go right famousAnd before I'd return again I'd roam the whole world wide.ChorusSo goodbye, Muirsheen Durkin, I'm sick and tired of working,...

"
9833. "The Great American Bum"
10017. "I'm Alabama Bound
I'm Alabama Bound
"I'm Alabama Bound" is a ragtime melody composed by Robert Hoffman in 1909. Hoffman "respectfully" dedicated it to one M. T. Scarlata. The cover of its first edition advertises the music as "Also Known As The Alabama Blues" which has led some to suspect it of being one of the first blues songs...

"
10030. "Corrine, Corrina" or "Alberta"
10052. "Rock About My Saro Jane"
10055. "Shorty George" (He Was a Friend of Mine
He Was a Friend of Mine
"He Was a Friend of Mine" is a traditional folk song in which the singer laments the death of a friend. The earliest known version of the song is titled "Shorty George"...

)
10056. "See See Rider
See See Rider
The song is generally regarded as being traditional in origin. Ma Rainey's version became popular during 1925, as "See See Rider Blues." It became one of the most famous of all blues songs, with well over 100 versions. It was recorded by Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi John Hurt, Lead Belly,...

"
10062. "Take a Whiff On Me
Take a Whiff on Me
"Take a Whiff on Me" is an American folk song, with references to the use of cocaine. It is also known as "Take a Whiff ", "Cocaine Habit", and "Cocaine Habit Blues".-History:...

"
10072. "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
"Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" is a traditional Negro spiritual.The song dates back to the era of slavery in the United States when it was common practice to sell children of slaves away from their parents. An early performance of the song dates back to the 1870s by the Fisk Jubilee...

"
10075. "Gospel Plow
Gospel Plow
"Gospel Plow" is a traditional American folk song. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index, number 10075. The title is biblical, based on Luke 9:62.-Recordings:* Duke Ellington Newport Jazz Festival...

"
10124. "Eskimo Nell
The Ballad of Eskimo Nell
The Ballad of Eskimo Nell is a bawdy rhymed recitation or song that recounts the tale of Deadeye Dick, his accomplice Mexican Pete and a woman they meet on their travels, named Eskimo Nell. In the view of some, Eskimo Nell is in her own way an authentic heroine and, by the yardstick of the...

"
10259. "Do Your Ears Hang Low?
Do Your Ears Hang Low?
"Do Your Ears Hang Low?" is a children's song that is often sung in schools and at camps. The melody of this song was partially taken from another: "Turkey in the Straw." Various theories exist concerning the origin of the lyrics, but no conclusive evidence seems to exist.Various versions with...

"
10266. "Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill (song)
"Jack and Jill" is a classic nursery rhyme in the English speaking world. The origin of the rhyme is obscure and there are several theories that attempt to interpret the lyrics. The rhyme is known to date back to at least the 18th century. The song is sometimes titled "Jack and Gill", particularly...

"
10493. "Hitler Has Only Got One Ball
Hitler Has Only Got One Ball
"Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" is a song that mocks Nazi leaders using blue comedy in reference to their testicles. Multiple variants of the lyrics exist, generally sung as four-line verses to the tune of the "Colonel Bogey March".-Origin of the song:...

"
10499. "D-Day Dodgers
D-Day Dodgers
The D-Day Dodgers is a term for those Allied servicemen who fought in Italy during the Second World War, which also inspired a popular wartime soldier's song...

"
10531. "Glorious
The Goddamned Dutch
"The Goddamned Dutch" is a traditional drinking song found among Hash House Harriers, rugby players and fraternities...

" (Drunk Last Night)
11284. "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
"One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme and counting-out rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 11284.-Lyrics:Common modern versions include:...

"
11586. "Itsy Bitsy Spider
Itsy Bitsy Spider
"Itsy Bitsy Spider" is a popular nursery rhyme that describes the adventures of a spider as it ascends, descends and reascends the downspout or "waterspout" of a gutter system...

"
11659. "Ain't It a Shame
Ain't It a Shame
"Ain't It a Shame" or "Ain't It a Shame to Go Fishin'" or "Keep You Hands Off Her" is an American folk song. It has been recorded by Lead Belly and Nirvana, among others. Also the name of a song by The B-52s on the Bouncing Off the Satellites LP . Covered by Sinead O'Connor in 2003 on She Who...

"
11661. "Salty Dog
Salty Dog (song)
"Salty Dog Blues" is an early 1900s folk song. It is in the public domain. It has been recorded by blues, jazz, country music, bluegrass groups and other styles. The oldest recordings of the song credit Papa Charlie Jackson, who adapted the song directly from the African-American traditional for...

"
11667. "Backwater Blues"
11668. "Black Betty
Black Betty
"Black Betty" is a 20th century African-American work song often credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations of earlier folk material; in this case an 18th century marching...

"
11681. "Goodnight, Irene
Goodnight, Irene
"Goodnight, Irene" or "Irene, Goodnight," is a 20th century American folk standard, written in 3/4 time, first recorded by American blues musician Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1932....

"
11684. "Grey Goose
Grey Goose (folk song)
"Grey Goose" is a traditional American folk song. Its subject is a preacher who hunts and captures a grey goose for dinner on a Sunday. He tries to kill the goose prior to eating it, but no matter how hard he tries, he cannot kill it, the implication being that he had not properly observed the...

"
11687. "Good Morning Blues"
11733. "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane"
11735. "Foggy Mountain Top"
11765. "Hesitation Blues
Hesitation Blues
"Hesitation Blues" is a popular song adapted from a traditional tune. One version was published by Billy Smythe, Scott Middleton, and Art Gillham. Another was published by W.C. Handy as "Hesitating Blues." Because the tune is a traditional tune many artists have given themselves credit as...

"
11768. "Camptown Races
Camptown Races
Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster . It was probably composed in Cincinnati in 1849, according to Richard Jackson, and published by F. D. Benteen of Baltimore, Maryland, in February 1850...

"
11886. "Down by the Riverside
Down by the Riverside
"Down by the Riverside" is a traditional gospel song. It was first published in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag and there are at least 14 black gospel recordings before World War II."Down by the Riverside" has a long history and was known in Civil War times. It was sung by blacks...

" ("Ain't Gonna Study War No More")
11924. "Come By Here" ("Kumbaya
Kumbaya
"Kumbaya" or "Kumbayah" — is an African-American spiritual song from the 1930s. It enjoyed newfound popularity during the folk revival of the 1960s and became a standard campfire song in Scouting and nature-oriented organizations...

")
11975. "Michael Row the Boat Ashore
Michael Row the Boat Ashore
Michael, Row the Boat Ashore is an African-American spiritual. It was first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina....

"
12153. "Jordan Is a Hard Road to Travel"
12598. "The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga
The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga
"The Monkeys Have No Tails in Zamboanga" is a song, probably written during the Spanish American War or the Moro Rebellion. It was popular with US soldiers in the Pacific in World War II.-History:...

"
12675. "The Saucy Arethusa
The Saucy Arethusa
The Saucy Arethusa is a nautical song which, although usually considered 'traditional', was possibly written by 'Prince Hoare', a comic opera librettist, in around 1832....

"
12682. "Early One Morning
Early One Morning
"Early One Morning" is an English folk song. The lyrics are first found in publications as far back as 1787. A broadside in the Bodleian Library, Oxford dates from about 1803...

"
12983. "Rub-a-dub-dub
Rub-a-dub-dub
"Rub-A-Dub-Dub" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3101.-Lyrics:This rhyme exists in many variations. Among those current today is:The earliest versions of this rhyme published differ significantly in their wording...

"
13026. "Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English language nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle and one of the best known in the English-speaking world. He is typically portrayed as an egg and has appeared or been referred to in a large number of works of literature and popular culture...

"
13027. "Little Jack Horner
Little Jack Horner
"Little Jack Horner" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has the Roud Folk Song Index number of 13027.-Lyrics:The most common modern lyrics are:Little Jack HornerSat in the corner,Eating a Christmas pie;He put in his thumb,...

"
13028. "See Saw Margery Daw
See Saw Margery Daw
"See Saw Margery Daw" is a popular English language nursery rhyme, folksong and playground singing game. The rhyme first appeared in its modern form in Mother Goose's Melody, published in London in around 1765...

"
13190. "Oranges and Lemons
Oranges and Lemons
"Oranges and Lemons" is an English nursery rhyme and singing game which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as #3190.-Lyrics:Common modern versions include:...

"
13191. "Sing a Song of Sixpence
Sing a Song of Sixpence
Sing a Song of Sixpence is a well-known English nursery rhyme, perhaps originating in the 18th century. It is also listed in the Roud folk song index as number 13191.-Lyrics:...

"
13497. "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater
Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater
"Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13497.-Lyrics:Common modern versions include:...

"
13512. "Ten Little Indians
Ten Little Indians
"Ten Little Indians" is a children's rhyme. The song is usually performed to the Irish folk tune "Michael Finnegan". It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13512.-Lyrics:The modern lyrics are believed to be public domain and are as follows:...

"
13711. "Wee Willie Winkie
Wee Willie Winkie
"Wee Willie Winkie" is a Scottish nursery rhyme, whose titular figure has become popular the world over as a personification of sleep. The poem, written by William Miller and titled "Willie Winkie", was first published in Whistle-binkie: Stories for the Fireside in 1841...

"
13849. "Bluebells of Scotland
Bluebells of Scotland
Blue Bells of Scotland is a traditional Scottish folk song .-Text:As with most folk songs, it exists in multiple versions. In the version printed in 1803 in the Scots Musical Museum, the words are:...

"
13902. "Jack Be Nimble
Jack Be Nimble
Jack Be Nimble is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13902.-Lyrics:The most common version of the rhyme is:-References in popular culture:...

"
13926. "Hard Travelin'"
15220. "Go Tell It On the Mountain
Go Tell It on the Mountain (song)
"Go Tell It on the Mountain" is an African-American spiritual song, compiled by John Wesley Work, Jr., dating back to at least 1865, that has been sung and recorded by many gospel and secular performers...

"
15472. "Do Your Ears Hang Low?
Do Your Ears Hang Low?
"Do Your Ears Hang Low?" is a children's song that is often sung in schools and at camps. The melody of this song was partially taken from another: "Turkey in the Straw." Various theories exist concerning the origin of the lyrics, but no conclusive evidence seems to exist.Various versions with...

"
15989. "Talking Blues
Talking blues
Talking blues is a form of country music. It is characterized by rhythmic speech or near-speech where the melody is free, but the rhythm is strict....

"
16151. "In Dem Long Hot Summer Days" or "Old Riley"
16814. "It's Raining, It's Pouring
It's Raining, It's Pouring
__notoc__"It's Raining, It's Pouring" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 16814.The song is not found before the mid-twentieth century in the USA...

" or "It's Raining"
16898. "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
"While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" is a Christmas carol describing the Annunciation to the Shepherds, with words attributed to Irish hymnist, lyricist and England's Poet Laureate, Nahum Tate....

"
16932. "Molly Malone
Molly Malone
"Molly Malone" is a popular song, set in Dublin, Ireland, which has become the unofficial anthem of Dublin City....

"
16962. "Kiss Me Goodnight, Sergeant Major
Kiss Me Goodnight, Sergeant Major
Kiss Me Goodnight, Sergeant Major is a World War II soldier's song. Roud 16962. The final line is "Sgt. Major, be a mother to me". The song is normally credited to Art Noel and Don Pelosi in 1939...

"
17635. "Sail Away Ladies"
17774. "The Music Man
The Music Man (song)
"The Music Man" is a popular cumulative folksong among children, rugby players and Hash House Harriers.Peter Kennedy published a song called "The German Musicianer" in "Folk Songs of Britain and Northern Ireland" . It has some similarities with this song. Even earlier, "The Wonderful Musician",...

"
18267. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe", which can be spelled a number of ways, is a children's counting rhyme, used to select a person to be "it" for games and similar purposes such as counting out a child that has to be stood down from a group of children as part of a playground game...

"
18341. "Angelina Baker
Angelina Baker
Angelina Baker, sometimes sung as Angeline the Baker is a song written by Stephen Foster for the Christy Minstrels, and published in 1850. The original laments the loss of a woman slave, sent away by her owner...

"
18556. "Brown's Ferry Blues"
18669. "Good Old Mountain Dew
Good Old Mountain Dew
"Good Old Mountain Dew" – sometimes called simply "Mountain Dew" – is a song composed by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. In addition to being a folklorist, Mr. Lunsford was a lawyer, who defended clients in criminal cases involving moonshining. The original refers to traditional blind trading methods of...

"
18830. "Beam of Oak"
19019. "Coulters Candy
Coulters Candy
Coulter's Candy, also known as Ally Bally or Ally Bally Bee, is a Scottish folk song, originating from Galashiels in the Scottish Borders....

"
19096. "Rain Rain Go Away
Rain Rain Go Away
"Rain Rain Go Away" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19096.-Lyrics:There are many versions and variations of this rhyming couplet. The most common modern version of is:-Origins:...

"
19132. "There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
"There Was an Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19132.-Lyrics:The most common version of the rhyme is:There was an old woman who lived in a shoe....

"
19235. "Round and round the garden
Round and round the garden
"Round and round the garden" is an English language nursery rhyme typically accompanied by a fingerplay. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19235.-Lyrics:The most common modern form of the poem is:LYRICS:"Round about there...

"
19236. "Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
"Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is an English language nursery rhyme, and a popular children's song, often sung as a round. It can also be an 'action' nursery rhyme where singers sit opposite one another and 'row' forwards and backwards with joined hands...

"
19299. "Solomon Grundy
Solomon Grundy
"Solomon Grundy" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19299.-Lyrics:The rhyme has varied very little since it was first collected by James Orchard Halliwell and published in 1842 with the lyrics:* The premiere of Sesame Street features a Solomon Grundy...

"
19334. "Old Mother Hubbard
Old Mother Hubbard
"Old Mother Hubbard" is an English language nursery rhyme, first printed in 1805 and among the most popular publications of the nineteenth century. The exact origin and meaning of the rhyme is disputed...

"
19478. "Hey Diddle Diddle
Hey Diddle Diddle
"Hey Diddle Diddle" is an English nursery rhyme...

"
19479. "Jack Sprat
Jack Sprat
"Jack Sprat" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19479.-Lyrics:The most common modern version of the rhyme is:...

"
19526. "Monday's Child
Monday's Child
‘Monday's Child’ is one of many fortune-telling songs, popular as nursery rhymes for children. It is supposed to tell a child's character or future based on the day they were born and help young children remember the days of the week. As with all nursery rhymes, there are many versions...

"
19532. "Georgie Porgie
Georgie Porgie
"Georgie Porgie" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19532.-Lyrics:The most common modern lyrics are:There are various theories that link the character Georgie Porgie to historical figures including George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham , Charles...

"
19536. "Lucy Locket
Lucy Locket
"Lucy Locket" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19536.-Lyrics:Common modern versions include:-Origins and meaning :...

"
19621. "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
"Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19621.-Lyrics:Modern versions of the rhyme include:...

"
19626. "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
"Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" is a popular English nursery rhyme. The rhyme has been seen as having religious and historical significance, but its origins and meaning are disputed...

"
19639. "Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
"Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross" is an English language nursery rhyme connected with the English town Banbury. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 21143.-Lyrics:Common modern versions include:Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,...

"
19712. "Doctor Foster
Doctor Foster
"Doctor Foster" is an English language nursery rhyme that has appeared in many anthologies since the nineteenth century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19288.-The rhyme:...

"
19772. "As I was going to St Ives
As I Was Going to St Ives
"As I was going to St Ives" is a traditional English language nursery rhyme which is generally thought to be a riddle. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19772.-Lyrics:The most common modern version is:-Answers:...

"
19777. "Simple Simon
Simple Simon (nursery rhyme)
"Simple Simon" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19777.-Lyrics:The rhyme is as follows;*Simple Simon was played by Charley Rogers in Babes in Toyland ....

"
19800. "Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Tweedledum and Tweedledee are fictional characters in an English language nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom. The nursery rhyme has a Roud Folk Song Index number...

"
19808. "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at"
20004. "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride
"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride" is an English language proverb and nursery rhyme, originating in the 16th century, which is usually used to suggest that it is useless to wish and that better results will be achieved through action...

"
20096. "One for Sorrow
One for Sorrow (nursery rhyme)
"One for Sorrow" is a traditional children's nursery rhyme about magpies. According to an old superstition, the number of magpies one sees determines if one will have bad luck or not. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20096.-Lyrics:...

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20174. "In Marble Halls", also "In Marble Walls"
20605. "Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet
"Little Miss Muffet" is a nursery rhyme, one of the most commonly printed in the mid-twentieth century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20605.-Lyrics:-Alternative Lyrics:...

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21449. "Pay Me My Money Down
Pay Me My Money Down
A work song, "Pay Me My Money Down" originated among the Negro stevedores working in the Georgia Sea Islands. It was collected by Lydia Parrish and published in her 1942 book, Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands:Also known as "Pay Me" or "Pay Me, You Owe Me", it was performed by The Weavers...

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