The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #103196 Message #2098942
Posted By: Joe Offer
10-Jul-07 - 02:12 PM
Thread Name: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
Subject: RE: Is there a 'Childs' songbook
Well, I suppose any songbook that has "ballads" in the title, will contain a lot of Child Ballads. Trouble is, most of those books follow the example of Professor Child and don't include melodies (and certainly not chords). Many ballad singers prefer to sing their ballads unaccompanied, so some ballad books include melodies but no chords. Classic English Folksongs, the EFDSS reissue of the famous Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, is like that.
You can find a number of Child (and other) ballads in two wonderful books that DO have melodies and chords:
The English Folksinger edited by Sam Richards and Tish Stubbs, 1979
The Scottish Folksinger, edited by Norman Buchan and Peter Hall, 1973
Both books were published by Collins in paperback. They may be out of print, but they are readily available from used book sellers.