Product Description

Many of the great songs that have inspired performers around the world in the last 50 years come from the English folk song tradition. This authoritative book provides words and melodies for nearly 100 traditional songs, along with a detailed exploration of their history and meaning, the context in which they arose, and their value to writers and performers in Britain, America, and around the world, from Bob Dylan and Paul Simon through to the contemporary "neofolk," "urban folk," and "anti-folk" movements. It is written by experts in the subject, with the full co-operation of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, which has been collecting and studying folk song for a century. The book includes a CD of 20 unaccompanied songs from historic field recordings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36835 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Spiral-bound
• 288 pages

About the Author
Created in association with the English Folk Dance And Song Society, the world authority on English-language folk music for more than a century.

Customer Reviews

Excellent introduction to folk song
For educational purposes this is superb: concise articles explaining aspects of folk singing and the folk revival in America and Britain; songs arranged thematically; endorsements by Shirley Collins and Martin Carthy; a CD of recent-ish field recordings and an accompanying website with many riches, including MIDI files for all the tunes in the book, plus PDF files for errata, a forum for user comments and lots of useful links.

The only mild niggle, as a newspaper review has already pointed out, are that the lack of an index of song titles/first lines makes speedy cross referencing difficult, if this is intended as an educational resource - ie checking what you already have on CD if you're trying to build a library of recordings for students is more bothersome than it might be (though a selection of recordings are handily listed alongside the excellent notes which accompany each song). And fourteen field recordings (not the twenty indicated above) isn't overly generous (though a CD of more varied versions of some the book's songs, Old Wine, New Skins, will be available separately in a few weeks so that will help).

But this is carping: the key thing is that this book offers clarity and concision in guiding the novice through a minefield of information. Don't throw away the big Peter Kennedy book, as it is far more comprehensive, but point students here first.

A wonderful resource - but you'll be lucky to find the midi files.
If you're interested in both the origins and development of English folk music, together with an interest in past and present performers, then this book is a very affordable purchase. Unusually, it is spiral bound inside a really strong hard cover. The songs are a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar, which is always a good idea. The songs are also collected into various themes, which is another good idea.

The CD contains a small number of original recordings and there is a reference to a website from where you can access a set of midifiles .... but that website is now offline. There MAY be an archive copy somewhere on a site such as the 'Wayback Machine', but I'd not bet on it.

For anyone with an interest in folk music - especially melody lines and associated historical information, I recommend that you look for the website of 'The Contemplator'. (Use that in your search engine)