Pick me a song to sing (Folk I s'pose)

[cesare]

Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk

Dear friends I have a sad story,
A very sad story to tell,
I married a man for his money,
And he’s worse than the devil himself.

I’ll go and I’ll get blue bleezin blind drunk,
Just to give Micky a warnin,
And just for to spite I might stay out all night,
And come rollin home drunk in the morning.

When Micky comes home in the evening,
He batters me all black and blue,
He knocks me about from the kitchen,
From the bedroom right through to the room.

Of whiskey I ne’er was a lover
But, what can a poor woman do?
Oh I’ll go and I’ll drown all my sorrows
But, I wish I could drown Micky too!

I’ll go and I’ll get blue bleezin blind drunk,
Just to give Micky a warning,
And just for to spite I’ll stay out all night,
And come rolling home drunk in the morning.

Dear friends I have a sad story,
A very sad story to tell,
I married a man for his money,
And he’s worse than the devil himself.

 

[the button]

The Digital Tradition has the words (with musical notation) for literally thousands of non-copyright traditional songs.

Also, the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library catalogue is online -- there's musical notation and words for a lot of the items in there, too. Alternatively (if you're in London) you could always drop in there for a look, and a listen to the thousands of "field" recordings of traditional singers they've got in there. IIRC, if you're not a member of the English Folk Dance & Song Society, they like you to phone ahead. All details in the link.

If you want to step outside the usual "folk revival" repertoire (or get a new take on songs that have been seemingly done to death), you could always try and listen to some 'source singers,' who the songs were collected from in the first place. Musical Traditions have an excellent catalogue, for instance. There's also the "Voice of the People" CDs on Topic Records -- it's a 20 CD set, but each CD is themed -- murder ballads, sea songs, etc. There's also a midprice 20-track sampler.

Book-wise, there's the excellent Folk Handbook -- loads of songs with music, plus a CD of some of the songs. Plus the new edition of Marrow Bones (which was a classic collection from the 60s folk revival), re-edited by (among others) a friend of mine. [/shameless plug]. Both are available from the English Folk Dance & Song Society, but will no doubt be available cheaper elsewhere.

I'm not going to recommend any songs as such, though. My favourites to sing are The trees they do grow high (based on Walter Pardon's version), Reynard the Fox, Greenland Whale Fisheries, Game of All Fours (not the same version as Kate Rusby), and The Good Old Way -- although that last one is a Primitive Methodist hymn, rather than a folk song. Lovely tune, though.

 

[RubyToogood]

What sort of thing do you have in mind? Sad/happy? Romantic/political? Major/minor?

I had a little listen to their myspace and the song that springs to mind is "I Drew My Ship" (Shirley Collins version), although I can't immediately find the tune on the internet for you.

e2a: may or may not help: http://www.amazon.com/I-Drew-My-Ship/dp/B001A9WZSA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1221309520&sr=8-5
Lyrics: http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cach...ip"&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk&client=firefox-a

 

[Nougat]

How about something Carina Round

 

[Nougat]

Strike that - just clicked on the link. Different type of folk to what I imagined...

 

[Ground Elder]

Bagas Degol have been played on Show 21 of the It's A Frog's Life Acoustic Podcast - the St George's Day Special. This show features 7 great English acoustic artists from across the UK.

 

[madzone]

All sorted - the guitarist has set a charles causely poem to music - tis very pretty (and very high )

Now, I've just got to stop shaking