Mudcatters --

If you want something to take your minds off all the horrible news of the day... may I suggest Ballad Index 6.8? I have just finished posting it to the http://balladindex.org/ web site. (Well, two parts of it -- the PDF version and the Windows runtime -- are not uploaded yet, because they take a tremendous amount of work. But hardly anyone uses those.)

This probably won't be the most exciting update. There are no new features, though of course a lot of entries have been updated. There are a few new articles, but they mostly pertain to pretty obscure songs (e.g. "The Cruise of the Florida" occurs only in an issue of the journal "Midwest Folklore" from more than half a century ago). So I'll just post the ReadMe file so you can read over whatever you want to read.

The Google Search hasn't updated yet, unfortunately, but I've posted a new site map, so we'll hope it happens soon.

Good luck with all that is about to happen, everyone....

What's New in the Ballad Index

Version 6.8

Structural or Functional Changes
None.

The Roud Index
This edition coordinates with Roud Index release 127.

Materials Added in this Edition
The following books were fully indexed in Version 6.8:
* (Journal:) Midwest Folklore
* F. T. Nettleingham, Tommy's Tunes
* Frank Purslow, Marrow Bones: English Folk Songs from Hammond and Gardiner MSS
* C. H. Ward-Jackson, editor, with Leighton Lucas, music editor, Airman's Song Book

The following items were partially indexed in Version 6.8:
* Steve Gardham, Earliest Versions Database (Version 1.2)

This brings the total number of books indexed fully or partially to 488 (375 of them indexed in their entirety), plus three journals (two of them fully indexed) and three electronic resources, with hundreds of other books cited in ADDITIONAL entries or the SAME TUNE field.

We now have 17,713 different songs (291 more than in the last edition, which had 17,422), under 32,151 titles. At least 1346 songs were added or had their entries updated in version 6.8.

The Supplemental Tradition now contains full or partial texts for 1138 songs.

There are 882 songs for which the NOTES exceed 500 words; 386 with at least 1000 words of notes; 59 with at least 5000 words of notes.
858 songs have enough data in the notes to call for a bibliography of at least three items.

Fun statistics:
The five most popular songs:
1. Bonny Barbara Allan (186 references)
2. The Golden Vanity (144 references)
3. The Gypsy Laddie (140 references)
4. The Daemon Lover/The House Carpenter (122 references)
5. Lord Thomas and Fair Annet (121 references)

The most popular non-Child Ballad is Frog Went A-Courting, with 120 references; it's #6 (up from #7 in the last version). Next below it are John Henry [Laws I1], with 93, and Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42], also with 93 references; they're #15/#16.
8463 songs -- somewhat less than half the song in the database -- have only one reference (or, in a few cases, none), meaning that 9250 have at least two.

13900 songs are listed as having unknown authors, meaning that 3813 songs have an author listed (not always with certainty).
16831 songs have at least one book reference
4035 songs have at least one recording reference
1490 songs have at least one reference to a broadside in a major collection (Bodleian, etc.)
188 songs have at least one manuscript reference

7418 songs have been found somewhere in the United States
4360 songs have been found in Britain (1974 in England, 2599 in Scotland; in other cases, it's not clear where in Britain)
2315 have been found in Ireland (including Northern Ireland)
2070 have been found in Canada
430 have been found in Australia
402 have been found somewhere in the West Indies
265 have been found in New Zealand

New substantial articles in this edition include:
* The Florida's cruise. The Florida escapes Mobile Bay and gloats about it.
* Lloyd George's Beer. If Lloyd George can't make the British fight better, he can at least lower their alcohol consumption.
* Mister McKinley (White House Blues). What happens when a high-tariff president meets an imported gun.
* The Rising in the North [Child 175]. Catholics try to overcome Protestantism in England, but the leaders chicken out.
* They Were So Happy, Oh! So Happy. Britain celebrates when someone finally manages to shoot down a Zeppelin.