Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,captain farrell
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 11:14 AM

I recently had a bash at Bonaparte`s Retreat some song versions sound alot like I saw her standing there/beatles

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Allan Conn
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 09:32 AM

John I had the benefit of my wife's Guiness Book Of British Hit Singles! Ask me anything after 2008 though and I'm scuppered

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,John Cunningham
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 09:08 AM

I stand corrected, Allan. Thanks for the update ;-)

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,Allan Conn
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 05:51 PM

"It's the only gaelic tune ever to be a hit, I believe."

It was on an EP of several Gaelic songs by the group which got to #39 in 1992 - though they also had a single in Gaelic called Ailean Duinn which got to #65. Runrig had a song called "Solus Na Madain" which was on the Hearthammer EP which made #25 and they also had a single release called "An Ubhal As Airde" which squeezed into the top 20 itself.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Musket
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 12:52 PM

Most songs are folk songs, if you ignore the ludicrous 1954 waffle.

Many years ago, Dave Burland made the point by singing the Boomtown Rats song, "I don't like Mondays."

It hits the point on so many levels.

In the meantime, I listen to Seth Lakeman and note that iTunes calls it folk. Yet a band in a local pub the other night played his "Garden of grace" and introduced it, perhaps quite rightly, as a pop song.

Genres can be contentious, and to quote a friend of mine on a thread a few months ago, Willie said that if it is sung in a folk club, its a folk song. QED.

Mind you, to get back to Joe offer's original plea, I would say that I have a recording of Rod Stewart singing "Dirty Old Town." You could add his "Maggie May" but only shares a title.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,John Cunningham
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 12:38 PM

Enjoyed reading through this thread. No-one seems to have mentioned "Coisich a ruin" by Scots band Capercaillie, which is an old gaelic tune that translates as "Walk my beloved" It was a Top 30 hit in about 1991, and they appeared on Top of The Pops, as far as I am aware.

It's the only gaelic tune ever to be a hit, I believe. You can find it on their "Delirium" album, which is highly recommended.

Capercailie are still going and are still fabulous.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,Peter (Guest)
Date: 18 Apr 11 - 10:02 AM

Hoots Mon by Lord Rockingham's XI in 1958? aka Cock o' The North?

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Richie
Date: 17 Apr 11 - 08:52 PM

Hi,

Johnny and the Hurricanes recorded a rock and roll instrumental version In 1959 of the song entitled "Red River Rock" which became a hit in both the U.S. (#5) and in the UK (#3). Covered by the Ventures for their 1963 album The Ventures Play Telstar and The Lonely Bull. "Red River Rock" was remade in a synthpop version by Daniel Miller as pseudo-group Silicon Teens first in 1980 and then in 1987, the latter for inclusion on the soundtrack of the film Planes, Trains & Automobiles. (wiki)

Richie

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 17 Apr 11 - 02:30 PM

Simple Minds' No 1 UK hit from sometime at the end of the 1980s uses the tune of "She Moved Through the Fair"...

Youtube

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 17 Apr 11 - 01:45 PM

pdq - Grandfather's Clock by Henry Clay Work.

Tune of Streets of Laredo came up in early-50s to a song called The Old Homing Waltz.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 17 Apr 11 - 12:46 PM

Life was simpler and more secure then. The only threat to civilization seemed to be the H-bomb.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: kendall
Date: 17 Apr 11 - 11:58 AM

Lord, how I miss the music of those days. Come to think of it, I miss music period.If not for the CD player in my car I could easily throw the radio onto the dump.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 17 Apr 11 - 10:39 AM

What, no mention of "Tom Dooley"?

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Allan Conn
Date: 17 Apr 11 - 09:48 AM

"Someone had a hit with 'Wild Mountain Thyme' in 1992 but I do not know the artist who had the UK hit."

A Glaswegian band called The Silencers had a recording of it which was used in a commercial in the early 90s. It got lots of airplay but I don't think it made the charts as such!

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Apr 11 - 09:15 AM

There are a few songs I can rememberm one being the theme to Z - Cars. This tune entered the charts by Johny Keating in 1962 in the top ten. The tune they used was an English folk song caled 'Johnny Tod'. The only recording I remember was by The Spinners, a Liverpool group who made lots of great songs. Why did Johnny Keating claim he had written the song for the program Z - Cars when he should know that the tune existed long before the program started? In 1950 one song called 'There's No Tomorrow' was sung by 7 folks with Tony Martin having the big hit with it (Christmas 1949 to March 1950). Lots of folk from the 50s have recorded this song knowing that it was based on a tune from Italy. When Elvis made the charts with 4 remembered tunes they were; 'Love Me Tender', from the tune of 'Aura Lee' from 1956, 'It's Now Or Never', already caled 'There's No Tomorrow', and first known as 'O Sole Mio', a song Elvis went to nomber 1 with at the end of 1960, 'Wooden Heart', a German song, and 'Surrender' from 1961, also a song from Italy. The American trilogy was Elvis singing 3 remembered folk songs. The guy who said that Paul McCartney wrote the song 'Those Were The Days' is mistaken because that song was writen in 1963 and first recorded by the folk group The Limelites. The song that McCartney wrote for Mary Hopkin was in 1969 and caled 'Goodbye'. Someone had a hit with 'Wild Mountain Thyme' in 1992 but I do not know the artist who had the UK hit. If any one knows who this was then please let mke know!

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,Mike Miller
Date: 17 Jan 07 - 12:29 AM

Nice thread.
Back in the 60's the Morman Tabernacle Choir had a Top 10 hit with the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" (If I'm lyin', I'm dyin').
The Benny Goodman Band, featuring Ziggy Elman, covered a classic Klezmer tune as "And The Angels Sing". Also, from the big band era, Ella Fitzgerald, with the Chic Webb Band, doing "A Tisket, A Tasket".
In the 50's, several popular Italian-American artists (including Dean Martin and Perry Como) covered O Sole Mio as There;s No Tomorrow.
Traditional songs have been a source for pop writers for ever.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,bardan
Date: 16 Jan 07 - 06:20 PM

I don't know if the trad tunes made it to the charts, but Richard and Linda Thompson/Thomson/however it's spelled got some stuff into the charts didn't they? And they did folk tunes like the one that goes "I'm just a little beggar girl, sally is my name".

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Elmer Fudd
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 09:30 PM

The Mockingbird Song, by Inez and Charlie Foxx (recorded by James Taylor and Carly Simon much later)

Isn't that a riff on an old lullaby?

Mock (yeah)
ing (yeah)
bird (yeah)
yeah (yeah)
Mockin'bird, now

Everybody have you heard
He's gonna buy me a mockingbird
And if that mockingbird don't sing
He's gonna buy me a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring won't shine
He's gonna surely break this heart of mine
And that's why I keep on tellin' everybody
Say yeah, yeah whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, uh, oh

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,Auldtimer
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 07:19 PM

Antony Newley had a "hit" sometine in the early sixties with Strawberry Fair. Ri-foll Ri-foll fal-de-ridle-ie-doo.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 07:10 PM

"Walk Right In" was first recored by Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers in Memphis.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 07:01 PM

"Walk Right In (Sit Right Down)" was a pop hit mid-sixties pop hit, and I remember from an old thread that it's based on an old blues tune.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Nigel Paterson
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 06:51 AM

The Halliard's version of 'Seven Drunken Nights' got into the Spanish charts...must have been about 1967.
                                  Nigel P.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: mrdux
Date: 27 Dec 06 - 12:55 AM

the Beach Boys took "Sloop John B" -- a traditional West Indies (Bahamian?) song collected by Carl Sandburg and Alan Lomax -- to #3 on the Billboard chart in 1966.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 05:36 PM

"You Raise Me Up," a hit for Josh Groban not written by him, uses almost entirely the melody known as "Londonderry Air" or "O Danny Boy."

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Scoville
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 05:06 PM

I don't know that it ever hit the pop charts, exactly, but the Everly Brothers did a pop/rock version of "Muskrat". The lyrics were essentially unchanged from the old versions, but it had pop instrumentation (yes, it was a bad idea).

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Matt_R
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 10:23 AM

While not exactly a "folk song" per se, Steeleye Span also charted with the acapella Latin "Gaudete" at No. 11 on the UK charts in 1974.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: fat B****rd
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 09:10 AM

Black Girl by The Pour Pennies, UK 1965 ?

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: fat B****rd
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 09:06 AM

Black Betty was by Ram Jam, about 1990.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Scrump
Date: 26 Dec 06 - 05:48 AM

3 6 9, the goose drank wine...

Who sung that? That was a kid's skipping rhyme.

That's from The Clapping Song by Shirley Ellis - I mentioned this higher up the thread but so far no-one else has mentioned it.

I heard a record from the 1930s or 40s (I can't find any info on it now) that had similar words ("my auntie told her, I'd kissed a soldier", etc.)

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Bert
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 02:13 PM

Back in the Fifties, Ronnie Ronalde had a hit with "If I was a Blackbird".

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 12:38 PM

Johny Ray with "Let's Walk This-a-way" from Leadbelly's "Hah Ha This-a-way" Many moons back.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: oggie
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 09:11 AM

Albion Band got to somewhere in the Top 40 or 50 with 'Poor Old Horse' when as a bet one of the Radio 1 DJ's picked it as his record of the week. Be summer 1976 or 1977 I think. Think it peaked in the mid 40's but was long ago so I stand to be corrected.

oggie

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Dame Pattie Smith EPNS
Date: 25 Dec 06 - 06:05 AM

3 6 9, the goose drank wine...

Who sung that? That was a kid's skipping rhyme.



Black Betty ex Leadbelly, someone had a hit with that too.


Splott Man at the Dame's

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Forsh
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:47 PM

http://www.floraldance.com/
Lyrics here

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Forsh
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:43 PM

Again, Amazing Grace, at the Isle of White Pop Festival (1970?) sung into the charts by Judy Covington (?) Vague, but I am getting old, y'know!
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT:
Floral Dance as sung by Terry Wogan? (Arrrrrrghhhhh)

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:24 PM

Ray Charles' "This Little Girl of Mine" from "This Little Light of Mine."

Re: Johnny Cash list. Most were not chart hits, altho' the albums (cds) they were part of may have been.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: pdq
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:23 PM

Thank you.

The writer credit was not given by me, although a few minor comments were. List is there "to be discussed".

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 05:13 PM

Great list, pdq!! Thanks for posting it.

Having said that, with all due respect, I guess I'll be the first person [but maybe not the last person]to quibble over a couple of attributions in that list:

Shouldn't "Amazing Grace" be listed as [words, John Newton, 1779. Music: 19th Century American melody]?

Also shouldn't "Pick a Bale O' Cotton" be listed as [H. Ledbetter, prob trad]?

Best wishes,

Azizi

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: pdq
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 04:58 PM

Here is a list of songs Johnny Cash recorded. In choosing them, I tried to be inclusive:


Amazing Grace

Cindy

Cocaine Blues

Cotton Fields

Darlin' Companion

Deep Elem Blues

Delia's Gone

Diamonds in the Rough [A.P. Carter, prob. trad.]

Down in the Valley

Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill

Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes

Engine 143         [A.P. Carter, prob. trad.]

"Frankie's Man Johnny"

Galway Bay        [Dr. A. Colahan]                 

Gathering Flowers from the Hillside               [A.P. Carter, may be trad.]

Girl from the North Country              [Bob Dylan, modified trad.]

God's Gonna Cut You Down

Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad

Goodnight Irene             [Lead Belly, often called folk]

Grandfather's Clock             [B.J. Reed, prob.trad.]

Great Speckled Bird         [Roy Carter, one of several songs to use trad. melody]

Greater Love Hath No Man

Green Grow the Lilacs

Hard Times (Come Again No More)        [Stephen Foster, but now a folk staple]

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing            [Felix Mendelssohn, no it really ain't folk]

I Am a Pilgrim              [Merle Travis, updated trad.?]

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day                  [Jean Baptiste Calkin]

I Shall Not Be Moved               [V.O. Fossett]

I'll Be All Smiles Tonight        [A.P. Carter]

I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen                  [T.P. West]

I'm Free from the Chain Gang Now               [Lou Herscher]

I'm Working on a Building           [A.P. Carter]

I've Been Working on the Railroad

If I Had a Hammer        [Lee Hays]

Is This My Destiny?        [Helen Carter]

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear        [Edmund Hamilton Sears]

Jingle Bells               [J.S. Pierpont]

John Henry         [epic re-write, Cash deserves arr. credit]

Keep on the Sunny Side        [A.P. Carter, may be older]

Life's Railway to Heaven        [M.E. Abbey]?

Lonesome Valley               [A.P. Carter]

Lorena                      [ 'Charlie W..."]

Mary of the Wild Moor               [Dennis Turner]

Matchbox           [Carl Perkins](from Lemon Jefferson?)

Memories Are Made of This              [Richard Dehr]

Mister Garfield        [Jack Elliott]

O Christmas Tree        Traditional        Country Christmas [1991]

O Come All Ye Faithful               [Frederick Oakeley]

O Little Town of Bethlehem        [Phillip Brooks]

Oh Come, Angel Band                 [Johnny Cash]

Old Black Joe        [Stephen Foster]

Old Shep                  [Red Foley, older?]

On the Trail                      [?]

Orange Bloosom Special        [Ervin T. Rouse, older?]

Painted Desert                   [?]

Peace in the Valley        ["Rev. Thom"]

Pick a Bale O' Cotton        [H. Ledbetter]

Praise the Lord and Pass the Soup           [Albert Hammond]

Put the Sugar to Bed        [Mother Maybelle Carter]

Red River Valley        

Rock Island Line                  [Leadbelly]

Rock of Ages        [Brantley C. George]

Salty Dog                     [Rudy Toombs, but trad.]

Sam Hall                  [Tex Ritter, but older]

Shuckin' the Corn                 

Silent Night         [F. Gruber, J. Mohr]

Single Girl, Married Girl        [A.P. Carter, but trad.]

Six White Horses               [Larry Murray, but old Blues song]

Smokey Factory Blues         [Albert Hammond]

Sweet Betsy from Pike       [Jimmie Davis, but trad.]

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

The Banks of the Ohio              [A.P. Carter]

The Church in the Wildwood            [A.P. Carter]

The Cremation of Sam McGee        [Robert W. Service]

The First Noel        [William Sandys]

The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea        Mother       [Maybelle Carter]

The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore        [Jean Ritchie, First Lady of Mudcat]

The Letter Edged in Black        [H. Nevada]

The Lily of the Valley        [C.W. Fry]

The Old Account (Was Settled Long Ago)

The Old Gospel Ship        

The Old Rugged Cross

The Prisoner's Song           [Guy Massey]

The Sinking of the Reuben James        [Woody Guthrie]

The Streets of Laredo

The Way Worn Traveler        [A.P. Carter]

The Winding Stream        [A.P. Carter]

The Wreck of Old '97        

There's a Mother Always Waiting    [P.D.]

Trail to Mexico

Trouble in Mind                        [Richard M. Jones]                  

Troublesome Waters                     [Mother Maybelle Carter]

Uncloudy Day               [J.K. Alwood]

Wabash Cannonball        [A.P. Carter]
         
We'll Meet Again                    [Hughie Charles]

Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?

What Child Is This?        [William Chatterton Dix]

When the Roll Is Called up Yonder            [James Black]                 

When the Roses Bloom Again                 [A.P. Carter]

When the Saints Go Marching In        

Where the Soul of Man Never Dies               [William Lee Golden]

Where We'll Never Grow Old                  [James C. Moore]

Who At My Door Is Standing                 [A.B. Everett]

Who Kept the Sheep        [E.J Carter, Johnny Cash]

Wildwood Flower                  [A.P. Carter]         

Will the Circle Be Unbroken          [A.P. Carter]

Wreck of the Old '97                [A.P. Carter]

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 11:19 AM

Correction, the song "Flowers" by Moby was included in the 2000 "Gone in 60 seconds" soundtrack.

Also, from the comment below, it appears that Moby also included a song called "Honey" based on the African American game song "Sometimes" in his 1999 Cd "Play".

"A map to Moby's music using Play as your compass
...Honey - The vocals in Honey are from a song called "Sometimes", sung by Bessie Jones which can be found on a 4CD set named "Sounds of the South". The story behind these southern style vocals is quite long and I won't go into it here. However, "Flower" on the Gone in 60 seconds soundtrack, and also on the V2 records release of Play with added B Sides bonus disc (63881-27085-2) also uses similar vocals. You may also notice old vocals used in other songs on Play. Many of these can be found on that 4CD set mentioned above."

http://www.epinions.com/musc-review-48E1-31E9B107-3A58F0C7-prod2

-snip-

Here is a song clip of the Moby song "Flower":

http://www.amazon.ca/Gone-60-Seconds-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B00004TM2D

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Azizi
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 10:50 AM

A number of lines and verses from children's game song, choosing it, jump rope, and handclap rhymes are found in R&B music, Reggae, and other popular music.

Here's two examples of songs which have a children's rhyme as their source.

Bob-A-Needle
In 1964 Chubby Checker, who is best known for his Twist fame, recorded a R&B version of the African American children's game Bob-A-Needle.

See "Hey Bob-a- Needle": Chubby Checker

This game is included in Bessie Jones & Bess Lomax Hawes' book "Step It Down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage {University of Georgia Press, 1972, pps. 163-164}
basong is see for words & comments about the game song.

See this Mudcat thread Origins: Bob-A-Needle

If your interested in doing so, you can also read my comments about this game on http://www.cocojams.com/games_children_play.htm .

**

Green Sally Up

"Green Sally Up" was recorded by Moby in the Album "Play" under the name "Flowers". See http://www.lyricsdepot.com/moby/flower.html

The words to this African American children's game song from the Gullah tradition are also included in Bessie Jones & Bess Lomax Hawes' book "Step It Down". The song is also included on Disc 4 of Alan Lomax's Sounds of the South, A Musical Journey fromt the Georgia Sea Isles to the Mississippi Delta.{Atlantic 787496-2; 1993.

If interested, you can also read my comments about this game song on my Cocojams website.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 09:48 AM

This seems too obvious that it is probably not right, but I was thinking of House Of The Rising Sun by the Animals

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 09:40 AM

Gallows Poll Results
Hang him    48%
Let him go    44%
No Opinion    8%

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 09:01 AM

Jaysus, The Dubliners made the UK top ten with ' Seven Drunken Nights ' and even appeared on Top Of The Pops, they followed up 'Black Velvet Band ' which also made the UK charts, twenty years later they made the charts again with the Pogues and ' The Irish Rover ' which other folk band has had three UK top ten hits.

eric

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: RWJ
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 07:43 AM

When I left school many years ago I joined a Youth Hostel group and they compleatly changed my tast in music . They intrduced to Folk and Rock at the same time and one band that covered both was Led Zeplin the track that first came to mind was Gallows Poll

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Common Tater
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 06:53 AM

"The Midnight Hour" (made popular by Wilson Pickett) is a secularized version of the much earlier "The Midnight Hour" Negro Spiritual. I first heard the Spiritual sung by Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers (it's about the parousia - the 2nd coming of Christ) .... The Spiritual was being sung in the American South long before Cooke - or even Pickett - recorded it.

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: breezy
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 06:48 AM

Irene was leadbelly not Woodie n'est-ce pas/

Streets of london is a folk song written by army

The Dubliners did come home every day of the week as drunk as they could be, wasnt that a pop hit?

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: breezy
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 06:43 AM

House of the rising Sun , as recorded by ze animals

On the B side of Lonnie Donegan's 'My Old Man's a Dustman ' is the 'Golden vanity' and a very good version it is too

Trini Lopez had a Hammer

The Highwaymen followed up 'Michael' withe 'the Gypsy Rover'

must be more that Lonnie did that Woodie wrote but thats my bit done

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Scrump
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 06:36 AM

The Name Game by Shirley Ellis was I think based on a childrens' song or game - somebody out there might know? I mentioned this in a thread somewhere else, not long ago. And I think her other big hit The Clapping Song was similarly based on a children's song - again I hope somebody out there will know more.

As Guest, Hootenanny said, Guy Mitchell's "Pretty Little Black Eyed Susie" is also based on a folk song - the song is "I'll Tell My Ma", as popularised by the Clancy Bros and Tommy Makem, and the Dubliners, among others.

There are quite a few pop songs that have been based on classical melodies as well as folk songs - as long as they were out of copyright, the authors didn't care... ;-)

Subject: RE: Folk Songs That Hit the Charts as Pop Songs
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 24 Dec 06 - 06:27 AM

And discussed in an earlier thread - The Carnival is over by the New Seekers - Previously the Russian Folk song Stanka Rasin.

Cheers

DtG