English Folk Music
English folk music, like folk music of other countries, was music that the common people played and sang together. Much of it was passed on by oral tradition - repeated singing and memorization that was more "caught than taught".
Folk music required an interactive audience - no one was left out. A professional songwriter was not essential - the folks in the community longed to express themselves and did so by way of their own cultural creations!
English Folk Songs
You may be surprised to learn that the following songs have an English origin. Many times folk songs changed and traveled beyond the original country's borders. Sometimes they became so popular that people forgot where they came from!
Following are some well-known and not so well known folk songs of English origin:
- A Frog Went A-Courting
This song actually began in Scotland around 1549, but made its way to England by 1611. America didn't catch wind of it until around 1700! -
Greensleeves - 1620
This enormously popular tune has had more than one set of words. It's doleful melody in a minor key is possibly best known today as a Christian hymn proclaiming Christ's birth. It's title?
"What Child Is This?" - Drunken Sailor - 1620
Probably the best known war song of all time,
Yankee Doodle tips its hat in thanks to the English
for its origin.
This tune made its way to the U.S. in 1840.
This popular classic was brought to the U.S. by immigrants from the British Isles. You can take folks out of their country, but you sure can't take the country out of the folks!
This melody originated in England but the lyrics were American.
It was popular in the Gold Rush Days.
The U.S. didn't popularize this old tune until 1945!
Believe it or not, this was an English melody about Ireland.
More English Folk Music Favorites
Wildly popular as a song played by the traveling circus, this tune was written by an Englishman and became popular after the Civil War.
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