Can someone point me to a good source (online or published) of tunes and lyrics for English ballads? (Elizabethan and Ren eras mostly). Is there some equivalent to O’Neil’s?
Jim
Probably the best source is the the Child Ballads; the title is something like “Popular ballads of England and Scotland,” by Francis James Child. It has lyrics about 500 songs in it, with music for maybe only 40 or 50. Each song has extensive annotation, where he found what versions, etc. The first few run 20 pages each; I find it a fascinating read how the same song can pop up in England, Germany, and Iceland. It’s quite difficult to find, and very expensive; the five-volume Dover reprint usually runs $500-1000 in the used online booksellers. Check your local library. Some of the Child ballads are online at:
http://www.childballads.com/cmpltchl.html
A good online source is the Digital Tradition at www.mudcat.org .
Besides Chas’ helpful suggestions, see:
http://www.contemplator.com/history/broadside.html#links
John, whose wife Ann appears in some of Tony’s Dunsmuir pictures playing her button box
Aw, darn, John beat me to it. Leslie Neilsen’s “THE CONTEMPLATOR” site is awesome, with not only British but allso Scottish, Irish and American traditional tunes sorted by country, period, and even to a degree genre.
One hint. Pack lunch and maybe dinner before you go there. You can become bemused and be shocked at how fast the time flew by. This is about the only site for which I leave the sound turned on.