Matching Songs of the British Isles and America, by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

Matching Songs of the British Isles and America

by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

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Full Digital Discography

105

releases

Get all 105 Ewan MacColl releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Chants De Marins Anglais Vol.2, The New Briton Gazette - Vol.2, The Long Harvest - Vol.12 (Second Crop), The Long Harvest - Vol.11 (Ballads resident and migrant), Joy of Living: A Tribute to Ewan MacColl, Naming Of Names, Parsley, Sage and Politics, Blood & Roses Volume 5, and 97 more. , and , .

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1.	The Sweet Kumadee 03:40	info	buy track
2.	The Golden Vanity 03:39	info	buy track
3.	The Old Grey Beard Kept Waggin' 03:11	info	buy track
4.	Overshoes and Leggin's 02:06	info	buy track
5.	The Gypsy Laddie 02:49	info	buy track
6.	The Black Jack Davy 02:48	info	buy track
7.	The Sheffield Apprentice 03:41	info	buy track
8.	I Was Brought Up In Cornwall 03:37	info	buy track
9.	There Was A Puggie In A Well 03:10	info	buy track
10.	Froggie Went A' Courtin' 03:15	info	buy track
11.	My Sailor Boy 02:24	info	buy track
12.	Sweet William 02:42	info	buy track
13.	The Fishes Song 01:56	info	buy track
14.	The Fish Of The Sea 02:20	info	buy track
15.	Scarborough Fair 03:14	info	buy track
16.	The Cambric Shirt 02:47	info	buy track

about

The title of this album is meant to suggest, for purposes of comparison by the listener, performative of both Old World and American variants of diverse folk songs and ballads, originally created and sung in England, Scotland and Ireland, and later brought to the snores of the New World by many centuries of immigrants from those countries.

The songs and ballads heard here are representative of a vast body of songlore. Included are great traditional ballads (the "Child" ballads), courting songs, broadside ballads, nursery songs, and sea songs. Some may be traced back several centuries, other have a more recent history. All are fine songs and have withstood the rigors of time and space, as all truly great folksongs must do in order to deserve being considered as such.

The collecting of British folksongs and ballads from both traditional and printed sources has been the occupation of outstanding scholars tor several centuries. Included among these are Sir Walter Scott, David Herd, Bishop Thomas Percy, Samuel Pepys, Joseph Ritson, William Motherwell, and William Chappell, to mention just a few. In more recent times, their important work was continued by men like Gavin Greig and Cecil Sharp. These two, more than any others, helped to shape our knowledge of the oral songlore of Britain as it came down to the twentieth century. But even these great giants of our traditional musical heritage were of the opinion that the major art of the work had been accomplished by the turn of the century. Time and circumstances soon proved them wrong. When Sharp made his collecting foray through the Southern Appalachians in 1916-19, he found that a vast store of this British songlore was still being performed there. The work of numerous American collectors, in all parts of the country, has since uncovered still vaster treasures.

This album is an attempt to indicate the relationship of British folksongs to their American counterparts. In it, we may hear the changes which an active oral tradition have wrought upon the original British songs. The songs and ballads included in this album have been carefully selected to show these changes, both textually and musically, and to emphasize by comparison both their great differences and similarities.

credits

released July 24, 1957

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Ewan MacColl London, UK

This site is maintained by the MacColl family, aiming to make Ewan's catalogue available to download.
Ewan MacColl is known to most as a songwriter and singer, but he was also of significant influence in the worlds of theatre and radio broadcasting. His art reached huge numbers through the folk clubs, greater numbers through his recordings and untold millions through the radio. ... more

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