Alan Mills composed the classic folk song that tells the story of what?
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Alan Mills (music) Alan Mills, CM, (born Albert Miller September 7, 1913(sometimes given as 1912) – June 14, 1977 ) was a Canadian folksinger, writer, and actor. He was best known for popularizing Canadian folk music, and he composed the classic folk song "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" (with lyrics by Rose Bonne) which was later recorded by Burl Ives, Peter Paul and Mary and many others. He also appeared on several radio and television programs and in movies. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1974 for his contributions to Canadian folklore. Mills has also released several albums on Folkways Records of Canadian and French folk songs.
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There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly The phrase and title There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly—alternatively, "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," or "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly," or "I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly"—is a children's rhyme and song of a kind known as cumulative. The song tells the story of an old woman who swallowed increasingly large animals, each to catch the previously swallowed animal. There are many variations of phrasing in the lyrics, especially for the description of swallowing each animal. The spider and fly are described in each verse, but the other animals are only described when they are introduced starting with the bird. The absurdity stems from the increasingly improbable solutions that only worsen the initial problem and are more likely to cause the woman's death: the logic of swallowing of even more animals of preposterous sizes without dying, contrasted with the expected, matter-of-fact recounting of her death from swallowing an animal larger than herself, when in fact the swallowing of any animal as a solution was absurd.
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Freeborn Man of the Traveling People Freeborn Man of the Traveling People is a folk ballad,
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Barbara Allen (song) "Barbara Allen" (Child 84, Roud 54) is a traditional Scottish ballad; it later travelled to America both orally and in print, where it became a popular folk song. Ethnomusicologists Steve Roud and Julia Bishop described it as "far and away the most widely collected song in the English language — equally popular in England, Scotland and Ireland, and with hundreds of versions collected over the years in North America."
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Back Home (Merle Travis album) Back Home is the original LP reissue of Merle Travis's first album, "Folk Songs of the Hills" (1947), with four previously unreleased tracks and a new cover. This album marked a new turn in Travis's career, bringing his Kentucky-style fingerpicking and down-home vocal stylings to the attention of a broad public of country and folk music enthusiasts at the onset of the American folk music revival. Together with another Capitol release the following year, "The Merle Travis Guitar", it introduced the style of guitar playing that came to be known, in simplified form, as Travis picking. The album includes a selection of traditional country songs such as "John Henry", "Muskrat", "Lost John (from Bowling Green)", "Barbara Allen", and Travis' signature gospel song, "I Am a Pilgrim". Also included are the original compositions "Dark as a Dungeon" and "Sixteen Tons". All songs are introduced by a spoken narrative.
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Foggy Dew (English song) "Foggy Dew" or "Foggy, Foggy Dew" is an English folk song. The song describes the outcome of an affair between a young weaver and a girl he courted for some time. She initially comes to his bed because she is afraid of the "foggy, foggy dew" but it seems she often returned. Early versions of the song refer to her fear of the "bugaboo" rather than the foggy dew. It is cataloged as Laws No. O03 and Roud Folk Song Index No. 558.
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City of New Orleans (song) "City of New Orleans" is a folk song written by Steve Goodman (and first recorded for Goodman's self-titled 1971 album), describing a train ride from Chicago to New Orleans on the Illinois Central Railroad's "City of New Orleans" in bittersweet and nostalgic terms.
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William Taylor (folk song) 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. Other names include "Billy Taylor", "Brisk Young Seamen", "Bold William Taylor", "Down By the Seashore", "The False Lover", "The Female Lieutenant; Or, Faithless Lover Rewarded", "If You'll Get Up Early in the Morning", "The Life and Death of Billy Taylor", "My Love", "Poor William Taylor", "Sally Brown and William Taylor", and "Young Billy Taylor".
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Masters of War "Masters of War" is a song by Bob Dylan, written over the winter of 1962–63 and released on the album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" in the spring of 1963. The song's melody was adapted from the traditional "Nottamun Town". Dylan's lyrics are a protest against the Cold War nuclear arms build-up of the early 1960s.
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Lomax the Songhunter Lomax the Songhunter is a 2004 documentary film about Alan Lomax, a man who, after World War II, was determined to record folk music from United States and all over the world before it was blown away by mass consumer culture. Son of John Lomax, the man who discovered Lead Belly (and bailed him out of prison) and introduced Woody Guthrie to the world, Alan shared his father's passion for music and was not intimidated by his massive accomplishments. The film, which finds Alan near death and barely able to make himself understood, traces Alan's journey across the globe, stopping to hear testimonials from many of the people or relatives of the people he recorded. It also contains interviews from Lomax's friends and colleagues, including Pete Seeger, who did some cataloging for Lomax.
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Bush ballad The bush ballad, bush song or bush poem is a style of poetry and folk music that depicts the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. The typical bush ballad employs a straightforward rhyme structure to narrate a story, often one of action and adventure, and uses language that is colourful, colloquial and idiomatically Australian. Bush ballads range in tone from humorous to melancholic, and many explore themes of Australian folklore, including bushranging, droving, droughts, floods, life on the frontier, and relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
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Guinnevere "Guinnevere" is a folk song written by David Crosby in 1969. The song appears on Crosby, Stills & Nash's critically acclaimed eponymous debut album. The song is notable for its serene yet pointed melody and its unique lyrics, which compare Queen Guinevere to the object of the singer's affection, referred to as "m'lady".
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Drinking song A drinking song is a song sung while drinking alcohol. Most drinking songs are folk songs, and may be varied from person to person and region to region, in both the lyrics and in the music.
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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.
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Old Joe Clark Old Joe Clark is a US folk song, a mountain ballad that was "sung during World War I and later by soldiers from eastern Kentucky." Its lyrics refer to a real person named Joseph Clark, a Kentucky mountaineer who was born in 1839 and murdered in 1885. The "playful and sometimes outlandish verses" have led to the conjecture that it first spread as a children's song and via play parties. There are about 90 stanzas in various versions of the song. The tune is in the Mixolydian mode.
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The Bourgeois Blues "The Bourgeois Blues" is a blues song by American folk and blues musician, Lead Belly. It was written in June 1937 in response to the discrimination and segregation that Lead Belly faced during a visit to Washington, DC to record for Alan Lomax. It rails against racism, the Jim Crow laws, and the conditions of contemporary African Americans in the southern United States.
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Maggie May (folk song) "Maggie May" (or "Maggie Mae") (Roud 1757) is a traditional Liverpool folk song about a prostitute who robbed a "homeward bounder": a sailor coming home from a round trip.
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The Gypsy "The Gypsy" is a popular song written by Billy Reid, and published in 1945. The ballad tells the story of a person who visits a Gypsy fortune teller and is reassured that their partner is faithful. Though they both know it to be untrue, the narrator resolves to return, "'Cause I want to believe the Gypsy".
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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. A version of the song appeared in the 1934 book, "American Ballads and Folk Songs", by folk song collector John Lomax. Woody Guthrie recorded a version of the song at his Folkways sessions in the mid-1940s, and the song saw a resurgence in popularity with the rise of bluegrass and the American folk music revival in the 1950s. In 1957, the British musician Lonnie Donegan had a No. 1 UK hit with a skiffle version of "Cumberland Gap".
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Mick Maguire "Mick McGuire" is a traditional Irish folk song about courtship. It tells the story of a young man who courts a woman named Kate or Katie.
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Yarmouth Town "Yarmouth Town" is a traditional English song. It is a shanty about the town of Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast. It recounts a story of a young woman, the daughter of a pub landlord, who takes many lovers amongst the sailors passing through the port.
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Alan-a-Dale Alan-a-Dale (first recorded as Allen a Dale; variously spelled "Allen-a-Dale", "Allan-a-Dale", "Allin-a-Dale", "Allan A'Dayle" etc.) is a figure in the Robin Hood legend. According to the stories, he was a wandering minstrel who became a member of Robin's band of outlaws, the "Merry Men."