The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever? (songs)

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: kendall
Date: 11 Feb 12 - 09:04 AM

There's one in every crowd.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,Lizzie Cornish
Date: 11 Feb 12 - 08:56 AM

:0)

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,Ian Mather sans cookie
Date: 11 Feb 12 - 07:35 AM

I once knocked up a guitar tune, slow waltz time, lots of little flourishes, quite proud if it actually. I never worked up a score for it and to be fair, it was just a series of cadences.

I kept being asked what it was called when I played it and I noticed it on utube a while ago, (wasn't even aware I was being recorded, I might have had a shave ).

Anyway, my point is, after being fed up of people insisting it had a name, I gave it one. And it seemed to stick, and for that reason, be a candidate on this thread?

I love you so fucking much I can hardly shit.

I may have heard it as a joke in the dim and distant past, but use it anyway.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: maeve
Date: 11 Feb 12 - 06:39 AM

Kendall, regarding Aloha'oe- Haruo has posted the lyrics for inclusion in the DT; it seems to have not made it in yet. I'd like to see it there, also.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: cloudstreet
Date: 10 Feb 12 - 10:50 PM

The Valley of Strathmore

That amazing chorus:

If time was a thing man could buy
All the money that I have in store
I would give for one day by her side
In the valley of Strathmore

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: PHJim
Date: 10 Feb 12 - 10:17 PM

Todd Snider's Just In Case
Todd Snider wrote this lovely little love song for the 21st century.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Fred Maslan
Date: 10 Feb 12 - 08:57 PM

Bill Gallaher's "I will be the one"

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: kendall
Date: 10 Feb 12 - 08:48 PM

It's not in the DT. Does anyone besides me think it should be?

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: kendall
Date: 10 Feb 12 - 08:46 PM

Farewell to thee. (Aloha oe) written by the last Queen of Hawaii.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Allen in Oz
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 08:26 PM

Lorena
Tomorrow is a Long Time
Do You Think That I Do Not Know

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 12:04 PM

We really can't know 'the greatest ever' anything, yet

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 11:46 AM

Flow gently, sweet Afton.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 10:54 AM

There's a kiss at the end of the rainbow

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 10:32 AM

Mercy of your Smile by Bruce Murdoch

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,999
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 10:30 AM

Yo, Poppa Gator:

I hold your hand in mine, dear,
I press it to my lips.
I take a healthy bite
From your dainty fingertips.

My joy would be complete, dear,
If you were only here,
But still I keep your hand
As a precious souvenir.

The night you died I cut it off.
I really don't know why.
For now each time I kiss it
I get bloodstains on my tie.

I'm sorry now I killed you,
For our love was something fine,
And till they come to get me
I shall hold your hand in mine.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,I was there
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 07:36 AM

"The joy of living". Because when it came to the crunch, Ewan was talking about his love for EVERYTHING. And while he'd have probably shouted at you for suggesting it, at its core, all that endures, all that matters, is our love for each other.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,tatterfoal
Date: 08 Feb 12 - 04:39 AM

Call and Answer

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: ollaimh
Date: 07 Feb 12 - 09:42 PM

i'm fond of" neath the gloammin star at e'en"

zand the newfoundland song"when i'm sixty four"(not the beatles one.

the gaelic brigid o'malley is quite the song as well

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: The Sandman
Date: 07 Feb 12 - 06:28 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-SPThFpviU

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Feb 12 - 06:22 PM

I'd call that a great folk philosophical song...and one of the best ever.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: zozimus
Date: 07 Feb 12 - 06:18 PM

I'd go for "Changes" by Phil Ochs

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,Charlie Claude
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 10:32 PM

dog and gun

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,pattyClink
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 09:48 PM

I'll second the motion on Ae Fond Kiss, and i'll nominate Loch Tay Boat Song.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: kendall
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 07:52 PM

Lorena

Palace Grand

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Gallus Moll
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 07:05 PM

Robert Burns: Highland Mary (written for Margaret Campbell) - but sung to Iain Ingram's tune 'Auchamore' rather than the one Burns set it to (katherine Ogie)

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Joe_F
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 06:35 PM

I Saw Her As She Came and Went (trad.)
I Wish You Were Here (Malvina Reynolds)

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 12:13 PM

I agree about "Take This Waltz", Elmore. It's a truly beautiful song.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: topical tom
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 12:04 PM

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Ewan McColl

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Elmore
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 12:00 PM

The latest arrangement of L. Cohen's "Ain't no Cure For Love" sounds like a fifties r&b song, not that there's anything wrong with that. For a love song from Cohen I prefer "Take This Waltz" It haunts me. Just a matter of taste, not an an argument.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 11:29 AM

Okay, good. ;-) I agree on that one. And I'm going to add these:

Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
Visions of Johanna
Don't Think Twice, It's Allright
Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
Tomorrow is a Long Time
One Too Many Mornings
To Ramona

All those are by Bob Dylan, and there are more where those came from.

Then there's Leonard Cohen. He has written some incredible love songs. One of the best is "Ain't No Cure For Love".

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,Morris-ey
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 11:23 AM

Tie me kangaroo down, sport...

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,albert
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 10:41 AM

A song that works for me is Girl From The North Country by Bob Dylan!
Albert

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Elmore
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 10:33 AM

Lost my cookie, and became guest on entry just above this one.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 09:51 AM

Runner up. My Lady's a Wild, Flying Dove by Tom Paxton.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Elmore
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 09:47 AM

Do You Think That I Do Not Know? Words by Henry Lawson, Music by Slim Dusty, sung by Priscilla Herdman.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 09:06 AM

She Moves Through The Fair///gorgeous sentiment, yes ?

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 03:15 AM

Many good suggestions above. I'd also go with Stan Rogers' "Forty Five Years From Now", and "Lies", and then I'd add several Bob Dylan songs ("Sacrilege!!!, cry the UK folkies!)....several Leonard Cohen songs...several Mary Chapin Carpenter songs ("But that's not 'folk'!!!" they cry!)

Okay, never mind then. Just carry on pleasantly with what you're doing. ;-D

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Spailpin
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 03:12 AM

For me , the orchard, as sung by Liam Clancy ..

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: PHJim
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 01:34 AM

Just thought of another - Brock Zeman's End Of The World

You held my hand as the sky ripped in two
Before it all came crashing down you said, "I love you"
And I knew right then that these would be my last words
So I said: "Kiss me quick baby, it's the end of the world."
"Kiss me quick baby, it's the end of the world."

Subject: Lyr Add: LIKE A COAT FROM THE COLD (Guy Clark)
From: PHJim
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 01:27 AM

Another favourite - Guy Clark's LIKE A COAT FROM THE COLD

I've found comfort and courage in bottles of whiskey.
But I swear to you friend that that life is sum'm risky.
I have backed away quickly from those that would burn me.
And stopped up my ears that no one should learn me.

CHORUS: But the lady beside me is the one I have chosen
to walk through my life like a coat from the cold

2. I have flown like a bird from each cage that confined me
And broken every one of the ties that would bind me
I have danced me around some sad ol' situations
And taken up my share of them sweet invitations

CHORUS: But the lady beside me is the one I have chosen
To walk through my life like a coat from the cold
To walk through my life like a coat from the cold

Subject: Lyr Add: I JUST WISH THAT SHE WERE HERE (Keillor)
From: PHJim
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 01:21 AM

Just learned this yesterday, but it's a favourite:


I JUST WISH THAT SHE WERE HERE
Garrison Keillor

Don't put whipped cream in my coffee.
Don't put a lime wedge in my beer.
Don't want pepper on my salad.
I just wish that she were here.

I don't need to hear your specials.
I'll just have your cheapest wine.
I don't want an appetizer.
I just wish that she was mine.

I don't need the decorations.
I don't need the dessert cart.
I just need her here beside me.
With her head against my heart.

I don't need to hear the specials.
The ahi tuna very rare.
I don't want your calamari.
Just wish that she was sitting there.

I don't need the fancy salad.
The cheese tray or the dessert cart.
I just need her at my table.
With her head against my heart.

Everything is pale without her.
All this cool, uptown decor.
I can't even taste the hot sauce.
I just sit and watch the door.

Don't put whipped cream in my coffee.
Don't want a lime wedge in my beer.
Don't put pepper on my salad.
I just wish that she were here.
I just wish that she were here.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: PHJim
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 01:11 AM

When You And I Were Young Maggie, especially the second verse. Maggie Johnson died of consumption before the poem was made into a song, so she never got to hear a love song written for her by her husband about growing old together:

They say I am feeble with age, Maggie
My steps are less sprightly than then
My face is a well written page, Maggie
But time alone was the pen.
They say we are aged and grey, Maggie
As spray by the white breakers flung
But to me you're as fair as you were, Maggie
When you and I were young.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 07:14 PM

The Devil and the Feathery Wife.

Dave H

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: alex s
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 04:14 PM

Jock O'Hazeldean

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 03:59 PM

Uh. . . .

Old Blue?

Don Firth

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BALLAD OF MARY MAGDALENE (R Shindell)
From: michaelr
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 03:42 PM

I just heard this on the radio and think it should be here.

THE BALLAD OF MARY MAGDALENE(Richard Shindell)

1. My name is Mary Magdalene; I come from Palestine.
Please excuse these rags I'm in, but I've fallen on hard times;
But long ago I had my work when I was in my prime,
But I gave it up, and all for love; It was his career or mine.

CHORUS: Jesus loved me; this I know,
But why on earth did I ever let him go?
He was always faithful; he was always kind,
But he walked off with this heart of mine.

2. But I remember nights we spent whispering our creed:
Our rituals, our sacraments, the stars our canopy.
There beneath an olive tree we'd offer up our plea,
God's creation innocent, his arms surrounding me. CHORUS

3. A love like this will come but once; this I do believe,
And I'll not see his like again as I live and breathe,
And I'm sorry if I might offend, but I will never see
How the tenderness I shared with him became a heresy.

CHORUS: Jesus loved me; This I know,
But why on earth did he ever have to go?
He was always faithful; he was always kind,
But he walked off with this heart of mine.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,old salty
Date: 15 May 07 - 06:09 AM

" The Briar and The Rose "   by tom waits .Its a lovely song . :)

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: harpmolly
Date: 15 May 07 - 04:41 AM

There are far too many to choose from, so I'll go with one that has been particularly moving me recently: David Francey's "Green Fields". It has some really bittersweet moments but ends on a wonderfully high note. :)

...And I married out of high school to a girl I knew forever
And we settled down together, and three children came;
And the life that we were livin' was forgive and be forgiven,
But wherever I saw sunshine
She could only see rain.

Left me standing in the cornfield
With the dry land all around me,
And I felt my heart sinking like the setting sun;
And the sky was like the ocean pouring down around me,
I used to be so proud, now I was all undone...

(but later)

But when I was good and ready
When I stood up strong and steady,
Love came with the letters in the morning mail;
And I knew that I had found her
When I put my arms around her;
When I see her now in the morning how that sunrise pales.

Leaves me standing in the cornfield
With the dry land all around me,
And I feel myself rising like the morning sun;
And the sky is like the ocean,
White and blue and rollin'
And I know in my own heart she's the only one.

*shiver*

That's just yummy. :)

Molly

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 14 May 07 - 07:58 PM

Yes, PoppaGator, I was referring to the Tom Lehrer song. If you click on it in my earlier message, it takes you to a performance (not by TL) that's been put up on YouTube.

I don't think TL was parodying any particular song when he wrote it - he generally parodied genres, not particular songs (although he made an exception for Clementine).

My nomination of it as The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever was meant to be funny.

Subject: RE: The Greatest Folk Love Song Ever?
From: GUEST
Date: 14 May 07 - 07:22 PM

Some great suggestions notably by Burns and Stan Rogers.

Might I suggest "The Ballad of Mary Magdalene" by Dar Williams