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This category contains folk songs which originated in England. For a comprehensive list of 25,000 traditional English language songs, see List of folk songs by Roud number . Contents
In the strictest sense, English folk music has existed since the arrival of the Anglo-Saxon people in Britain after 400 AD. The Venerable Bede's story of the cattleman and later ecclesiastical musician Cædmon indicates that in the early medieval period it was normal at feasts to pass around the harp and sing 'vain and idle songs'. [1]
The Roud Folk Song Index lists about 149 collected or recorded versions performed by traditional singers - 49 from England, 4 from Scotland, 2 from Ireland, 4 from Canada and 88 from the USA. [15] At least one collected version was published in the Folk Songs from the Kentucky Mountains (1917). [16]
The Irish folk song "Carrickfergus" shares the lines "but the sea is wide/I cannot swim over/And neither have I wings to fly". This song may be preceded by an Irish language song whose first line A Bhí Bean Uasal ("It was a noble woman") matches closely the opening line of one known variation of Lord Jamie Douglas: "I was a lady of renown".
The song was also included on the 1956 album The English and Scottish Popular Ballads vol IV by A. L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl, using Kidson's melody. [13] The first recorded version using the best-known melody was performed by Audrey Coppard on the 1956 album English Folk Songs. [14]
"William Taylor" (Roud 158, Laws N11) is a British folk song, often collected from traditional singers in England, less so in Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the USA. It tells the story of a young woman who adopts male dress and becomes a sailor (or sometimes a soldier) in order to search for her lover.
English folk songs (47 C, 330 P) Scottish folk songs (13 C, 93 P) Welsh folk songs (1 C, 17 P) * British folk rock songs (39 C, 47 P) K. Michael Kiwanuka songs (4 P) M.
Blow the Wind Southerly" is a traditional English folk song from Northumbria. It tells of a woman desperately hoping for a southerly wind to blow her lover back home over the sea to her. It is Roud number 2619. [1]