I imagine there are a number of posters here who have been subjected to long ballads where the occasion was unsuited for such. It's been quite interesting to read the number of posts from those who don't sing them, simply saying 'they're boring' when what I asked for was thoughts on the 'how to' from people who actually sing them! So there's clearly a lot of dislike for them among a large amount of folkies!

But obviously I'm not going to just wander into my local singaround armed with thirty verses of something unsuited to the context and audience - because that would be self-indulgent and egoistic! I will probably do as Olddude suggests - and once I have two or three (that I find really engaging) down to my satisfaction, I'll bung 'em up on my MySpace and then maybe pull them out on such specific occasions as they WOULD be suitable for. Like a festival environment.

I started singing folk songs something over a year ago now, so being *almost* newish to it, the long Ballads have so far seemed quite daunting - I think of them as a different beast really. The longest song I think I sing currently is Alison Gross at nine verses (plus same in choruses) which I sang last Hallowe'en (and which on conclusion was promptly requested for next Hallowe'en, which made me chuffed!). So I'm not so scared by length now as I was last year (when three verses seemed a challenge to sing in public) - but I can certainly see how a short refrain would be helpful to keep the audience involved, where there are maybe twenty or even thirty verses of story to sit through.

I can definitely dig where Matt & Pip are coming from with the mesmeric 'entrancement' aspect of the performance, that's something I'll certainly be keeping in mind when working with them.