iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Roud Folk Song Index

This article is about folk song database. For hamlet on the Isle of Wight, see Roud, Isle of Wight.
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 143,000 references to over 21,400 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is a combination of the Broadside Index (printed sources before 1900) and a "field-recording index". It subsumes all the previous well-known printed sources known to Francis James Child and more recent recorded audio sources from 1900 to 1975. Related songs are grouped under the same Roud number. The more ancient songs tend to occupy low numbers, but songs which are obscure are given higher numbers. This explains why "Sheath and Knife" (Child 16) is Roud 3960. If a trusted authority gives the name of a song but doesn't give the words, it is assigned Roud number 000. Until early 2006 the index was available only by subscribing to a CD, updated periodically. It can now be found at Vaughan Williams Memorial Library Online.

Steve Roud is the Local Studies Librarian in the London Borough of Croydon. He was formerly Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society. He is the co-author of A Dictionary of English Folklore (2005, ISBN 0-19-860766-0). Starting in 1993 he input various fields to a database, listing the source singer (if known), their locality, the date of noting the song, the publisher (book or recorded source), plus other fields. In the past few years the numbers have been widely accepted in academic circles. The California State University's own on-line database includes Roud numbers up to number 5000. In many respects it is more informative than Roud's database, as it contains comments, but it draws on fewer sources. For example Steve Roud shows 22 sources for "Hind Etin" (Roud 33, Child 41), but CSU shows only one source.

For many who encounter folk songs only through modern CDs it comes as a surprise to discover that "Brigg Fair" (Roud 1083), "I'll Tell Me Ma" (Roud 2649) and "Cuckoo's Nest" (Roud 5407) are all undocumented before 1898. The most modern folk songs were still being discovered in the 1970s in the Ozark Mountains. Max Hunter's collection lists 1,600 such songs, but each minor variant is given a distinct number, making comparisons difficult. James Madison Carpenter's collection has 6,200 transcriptions and 1000 recorded cylinders made between 1927 and 1955. The index gives the title, first line and the name of the source singer. When appropriate, the Child number is given. It is still a largely unexploited resource, with none of the recordings easily available.

There are several other indexes of songs, but probably Roud will eventually include all of them. Dozens of historical tune-books have been indexed, but nobody has yet attempted to bring them all together in one index. They are outside the scope of Roud's work.

List of folk songs by Roud number

First 100

  1. "The Gypsy Laddie" (Child 200)
  2. "The Streets of Laredo" (Laws B1)
  3. "Garners Gay" ("Rue"; "The Sprig of Thyme")
  4. "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (Child 73)
  5. "The Three Ravens" (Child 26)
  6. "Lamkin" (Child 93)
  7. "The Female Highwayman" (Laws N21)
  8. "The Twa Sisters" (Child 10)
  9. "The Cruel Mother" (Child 20)
  10. "Lord Randal" (Child 12)
  11. "The Baffled Knight" (Child 112)
  12. "The Elfin Knight" (Child 2)
  13. "The Dowie Dens o Yarrow" (Child 214)
  14. "The Daemon Lover" ("The House Carpenter") (Child 243)
  15. "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" ("The Gosport Tragedy"; "Pretty Polly") (Laws P36A/B)
  16. "Frog Went A-Courting"
  17. "The Three Butchers" ("Dixon and Johnson") (Laws L4)
  18. "The Bramble Briar" ("The Merchant's Daughter"; "In Bruton Town") (Laws M32)
  19. "The Jolly Thresher" ("Poor Man, Poor Man")
  20. "The Fause Knight Upon the Road" (Child 3)
  21. "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" (Child 4)
  22. "Gil Brenton" (Child 5)
  23. "Earl Brand" (Child 7)
  24. "Erlinton" (Child 8)
  25. "The Fair Flower of Northumberland" (Child 9)
  26. "The Cruel Brother" (Child 11)
  27. "Babylon", or, "The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (Child 14)
  28. "Hind Horn" (Child 17)
  29. "Sir Lionel" (Child 18)
  30. "Willie's Lyke-Wake" (Child 25)
  31. "A-Growing" ("He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing") (Laws O35)
  32. "Kempy Kay" (Child 33)
  33. "Hind Etin" (Child 41)
  34. "The Broomfield Hill" (Child 43)
  35. "Tam Lin" (Child 39)
  36. "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (Child 46)
  37. "Proud Lady Margaret" (Child 47)
  38. "The Twa Brothers" (Child 49)
  39. "The King's Dochter Lady Jean" (Child 52)
  40. "Young Beichan" (Child 53)
  41. "Sir Patrick Spens" (Child 58)
  42. "Fair Annie" (Child 62)
  43. "Child Waters" (Child 63)
  44. "Fair Janet" (Child 64)
  45. "Lady Maisry" (Child 65)
  46. "Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet" (Child 66)
  47. "Young Hunting" (Child 68)
  48. "Lord Lovel" (Child 75)
  49. "The Lass of Roch Royal" (Child 76)
  50. "Sweet William's Ghost" (Child 77)
  51. "The Unquiet Grave" (Child 78)
  52. "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (Child 81)
  53. "Child Maurice" (Child 83)
  54. "Bonny Barbara Allan" (Child 84)
  55. "Prince Robert" (Child 87)
  56. "Young Johnstone" (Child 88)
  57. "Fause Foodrage" (Child 89)
  58. "Jellon Grame" (Child 90)
  59. "Fair Mary of Wallington" (Child 91)
  60. "Beam of Oak"
  61. "The Gay Goshawk" (Child 96)
  62. "Brown Robyn" (Child 97)
  63. "Johnie Scot" (Child 99)
  64. "Willie o Winsbury" (Child 100)
  65. "Willie o Douglas Dale" (Child 101)
  66. "Tom Potts" (Child 109)
  67. "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (Child 110)
  68. "The Twelve Days of Christmas"
  69. "Johnie Cock" (Child 114)
  70. "A Gest of Robyn Hode" (Child 117)
  71. "Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires" (Child 140)
  72. "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine" (Child 145)
  73. "Sir Hugh", or, "The Jew's Daughter" (Child 155)
  74. "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (Child 156)
  75. "Gude Wallace" (Child 157)
  76. "Johnie Armstrong" (Child 169)
  77. "The Death of Queen Jane" (Child 170)
  78. "Six Dukes Went a-Fishing"
  79. "Mary Hamilton" (Child 173)
  80. "Captain Car", or, "Edom o Gordon" (Child 178)
  81. "The Laird o Logie" (Child 182)
  82. "Jock o the Side" (Child 187)
  83. "Archie o Cawfield" (Child 188)
  84. "Hughie Grame" (Child 191)
  85. "The Lochmaben Harper" (Child 192)
  86. No record
  87. "Jamie Douglas"; "Waly Waly"; "The Water Is Wide"; "When Cockleshells Turn Silver Bells (Child 204)
  88. "Lord Delamere" (Child 207)
  89. "Lord Derwentwater" (Child 208)
  90. "Geordie" (Child 209)
  91. "The Mother's Malison", or "Clyde's Water" (Child 216)
  92. "The Broom of Cowdenknows" (Child 217)
  93. "Katharine Jaffray" (Child 221)
  94. "Lizie Lindsay" (Child 226)
  95. "Glasgow Peggy" (Child 228)
  96. "The Earl of Errol" (Child 231)
  97. "Richie Story" (Child 232)
  98. "Andrew Lammie" (Child 233)
  99. "The Earl of Aboyne" (Child 235)
  100. "Bonny Baby Livingston" (Child 222)

Subsequent

This song or music-related list is incomplete; you can help by [ expanding it].

See also

External links

Roud is a hamlet on the Isle of Wight in southern England.

History

This area's name was written as Rode in the 11th century, and Rowde in the 13th century. It was part of a free manor owned by Alnod in the time of King Edward. In 1086, it was owned by Gozelin, son of Azor.
..... Click the link for more information.
Oral tradition or oral culture is a way for a society to transmit history, literature, law or other knowledge across generations without a writing system. An example that combined aspects of oral literature and oral history, before eventually being set down in writing, is
..... Click the link for more information.
English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
..... Click the link for more information.
Francis James Child (February 1, 1825–September 11, 1896), was an American scholar and educationist, and collector of what came to be known as the Child Ballads.
..... Click the link for more information.
"Sheath and Knife" (Roud 3960 , Child 16) is a folk ballad.[1]

Synopsis

A woman is pregnant with her brother's child. He takes her to the greenwood to have her child, but she dies. He buries her and laments her death.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House.
..... Click the link for more information.
Stephen Roud is the founder of the Roud Folk Song Index. He is an expert on folklore and superstition. He lives in Maresfield, East Sussex. [1] He is Local Studies Librarian for the London Borough of Croydon. He was formerly Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society.
..... Click the link for more information.
Croydon


..... Click the link for more information.
The Folklore Society was founded in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts and crafts, customs and belief.

The society publishes a quarterly journal "Folklore", and since 1986 a newsletter "FLS News".
..... Click the link for more information.
California State University (CSU) is one of three public higher education systems in the state of California, the other two being the University of California system and the California Community College System.
..... Click the link for more information.
"Hind Etin" (Roud 33 , Child 41) is a folk ballad existing in several variants.[1]

Synopsis

Lady Margaret goes to the woods, and her breaking a branch is questioned by Hind Etin, who takes her with him into the forest.
..... Click the link for more information.
"Brigg Fair" (Roud 1083 ) is an English folk song. It is best known in a choral arrangement by Percy Grainger and a subsequent set of orchestral variations by Frederick Delius.
..... Click the link for more information.
"I'll Tell Me Ma" is a well known children's song. The chorus usually refers to Belfast city, although it is also adapted to other Irish cities, such as Dublin.

This song is Roud Folk Song Index number 2649.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Ozarks (also referred to as Ozarks Mountain Country, the Ozark Mountains or the Ozark Plateau) are a physiographic, geologic, and cultural highland region of the central United States.
..... Click the link for more information.
James Madison Carpenter, born in Blacklands, Mississippi (near Booneville), in 1888, was a Methodist minister, Harvard PhD, and scholar of American and British folklore. He is most known for his substantial work collecting folk songs in England, Scotland and Wales.
..... Click the link for more information.
"The Gypsy Laddie" (Roud 1 , Child 200, also known as "Black Jack Davy" and The Raggle Taggle Gypsies among many other titles) is a traditional folk ballad, possibly written about 1720.
..... Click the link for more information.
Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, collected by Francis James Child in the late 19th century. The collection was published as The English and Scottish Popular Ballads between 1882 and 1898.
..... Click the link for more information.
"Streets of Laredo" (Roud 2 ), also known as the "Cowboy's Lament", is a famous cowboy ballad in which a dying cowboy dispenses his advice to a living one.

Recordings of the song have been made by Johnny Cash, Joan Baez, Roy Rogers, Marty Robbins, Chet Atkins, Arlo
..... Click the link for more information.
Lord Thomas and Fair Annet (Child 73, Roud 4 ) is a folk ballad.[1]

Synopsis

Lord Thomas (or Sweet Willie) is in love with Fair Annet, or Annie, or Elinor, but she has little property. He asks for advice.
..... Click the link for more information.
"The Three Ravens" (Roud 5 ) is a folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata[1] compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611, but it is perhaps older than that.
..... Click the link for more information.
"Lamkin" (Roud 6 , Child 93) is an old ballad and probably one of the darkest. It gives an account of the murder of a woman and her infant son by a disgruntled mason. Versions of the ballad are found in Scotland, England, and America.
..... Click the link for more information.
Sovay is a traditional English folk song about a young woman who dresses as a highwayman in order to test her lover. The name 'Sovay' is probably a corruption of 'Sophie' or 'Sylvie' - both of which appear instead in some versions of the song.
..... Click the link for more information.
"The Two Sisters" is a murder ballad that recounts the tale of a girl drowned by her sister. It is first known to have appeared on a broadside (music) in 1656 as "The Miller and the King's Daughter.
..... Click the link for more information.
"The Cruel Mother" (Child 20, Roud 9 ) is a murder ballad.[1]

Synopsis

A woman gives birth to one or two illegitimate children (usually sons) in the woods, kills them, and buries them.
..... Click the link for more information.
"Lord Randall" (Roud 10 , Child 12) is a traditional ballad consisting of dialogue.[1] It is generally viewed as a British ballad, though versions and derivations of it exist across the continent of Europe.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Baffled Knight or Blow Away the Morning Dew is Child ballad 112, existing in numerous variants.

Synopsis

A knight, or a farmer's son, or a shepherd's son, meets a maid along the way, sometimes swimming in a brook.
..... Click the link for more information.
"The Elfin Knight" (Child #2; Roud #12) is a traditional Scottish folk ballad of which there are many versions, all dealing with supernatural occurrences, and the commission to perform impossible tasks.
..... Click the link for more information.
The Dowie Dens of Yarrow", also known as "The Braes of Yarrow" is a Scottish Ballad. It exists in many variants (Child collected at least 18) and it has been printed as a broadside, as well as published in song collections.
..... Click the link for more information.
"The Daemon Lover", also known as "James Harris", "James Herries", or "The House Carpenter" (Roud 14 , Child 243) is a popular ballad from Britain. It tells the story of a man (usually the Devil), who returns to a former lover after a very long absence, and
..... Click the link for more information.
"The Daemon Lover", also known as "James Harris", "James Herries", or "The House Carpenter" (Roud 14 , Child 243) is a popular ballad from Britain. It tells the story of a man (usually the Devil), who returns to a former lover after a very long absence, and
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter