Pop songs done in the 'folk style'

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 14 Jun 19 - 03:44 PM

WalkaboutsVerse - it's that kind of talk that exposes folks as out of touch narrow-minded nutters...

careful now...

A sensible person could say that much of American music owes a big debt to British and European folk music..
Roots, foundations that Americans have built upon, which enriches their modern music,
and makes it so good and appealing world wide...

Then you could pat yourself on the back for being so proud of our heritage folk music...

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Jun 19 - 03:32 PM

Anyone who thinks American pop and rock are somehow above English folk and classical music (or Irish or Scottish, etc., for that matter) is a fruitcake, frankly; we can beat them, so don't join them

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 03:21 PM

I could be a Muscat theme too

Half the world hate the other half...

:D tG

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 12:10 PM

'Sympathy' by Rarebird, is imho one of the best naive protest songs ever
and should be a folk standard...

An old drippy hippy prog rock lyric just as relevant as ever...

The LP also happens to be one of the first rock records I ever owned when I was about 12..

It was in a clearance sale in Woolworths, and I liked the cover picture..

Just by pure coincidence, a few days ago I discovered a 1970s Soviet Bloc cover version
sung in Georgian...

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 04:51 AM

I've never attempted to define folk OR traditional music- here be dragons.

Some of the above posts give me some encouragement, as I've said for years that any kind of music is a STYLE (or many different ones) rather than a repertoire, and I still believe that.

Hear a song?tune, learn it, then make it your own & sod the PRS

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 03:12 AM

I should have added that there is a pop phrase that sums it up perfectly.

It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it :-D

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 03:11 AM

Good point about the choir, Mo. It highlights the fact that sometimes the style in which a song is done is as important as the song itself. On that basis I think songs from the shows, pop songs or even folk songs would be acceptable at an orchestral concert as long as they were done in an orchestral style. Conversely, seeing as you mention a specific composer, there have been plenty of instances of classical music used in pop - It does not remain classical if done in a pop style. In my opinion.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,Fyldeplayer
Date: 13 Jun 19 - 01:20 AM

Several years ago we saw Lynne Heraud and Pat Turner sing 'Sympathy' by Rarebird, a Capella, pop or protest song? Who cares, what a gem. Don't Give Up by Peter Gabriel is working well in clubs with 3 vocals, guitars and concertina. Some pop songs were folk in style - Home Loving Man sung by Andy Williams I do, great chorus.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Mo the caller
Date: 12 Jun 19 - 09:43 AM

I agree with the post that said that putting labels on things was an argument waiting to happen.
Yes, a good song is a good song.
And I enjoy all sorts of music BUT I prefer my folk mainly traditional, so labels have their purpose.
Just as if I go to a concert I'd rather hear Bach than 'songs from the shows'
Others are welcome to have other preferences.

What do people think about folk songs sung in 'choir style' arrangements? Our choir sings from the OUP book 'Folk Songs for Choirs' Arrangements by people like Grainger, Moeran, RVW. Don't sound much like folk songs to me.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 11 Jun 19 - 11:36 AM

There's another Sweet song more appropriate for old folkies..

"Little Willy"...

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,Some glam rock bloke
Date: 09 Jun 19 - 02:15 PM

Fox on the run???

The Sweet

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 07 Jun 19 - 03:48 PM

Da Do Ron Ron is very easy (only 3 notes in it!) on my box, as is Doo Wah Diddy Diddy Dum Diddy Dum!

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 07 Jun 19 - 09:44 AM

There's The Wurzels version of British Sea Power's "Remember Me":

Wurzels - Remember Me

That was on a vinyl release a few years back, and the "Other" side (double "A" side) was BSP doing a version of "Oi Am A Zuyder Drinker":

BSP - I Am A Cider Drinker

You can't call it a "rocked up" version, more a "heavily rocked down" version!

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Jun 19 - 08:59 AM

There are many songs from the era of early pop- define it yourself- which can be played on a basic melodeon or concertina & much more fun than many folk songs.
Sam cooke, Al Bowlly, Hoagy Carmichael, Lonnie Donegan, Dr Hook to name a few & did you ever hear Bob Davenport singing Memphis Tennessee or jim Bainbridge singing 'Rum & Cocacola' with his melodeon?

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 02:30 PM

Store=afore

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 02:29 PM

I've been known to sing the chorus of Chantilly Lace to the tune of the Parting Glass.

Steve - I accidentally discovered that the Smoke on the Water riff is easy on an Anglo :-)

I went on a quest to find my store mentioned version of "Superstition"

Here it is!

Enjoy.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,LynnH
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 01:38 PM

As a twist to the theme there was Dave Burland's piss-take of Martin Carthy's one time 'honking' singing style using 'Blue Suede Shoes' sung to the tune of, if memory doesn't fail me, 'The Banks of the Sweet Primeroses'!

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 10:59 AM

I occasionally play in a group called "Wee Five Folk"; acoustic guitar, banjo, baritone ukelele and me on my B/C box or keyboard, + limited percussion. Most of the repertoire is early pop stuff, Doris Day, Elvis Presley, Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Beatles, Lonnie Donegan, Eagles, Kris Kristofferson, Simon and Garfunkel, etc, etc. A brief nod to some of our own songs and Scottish and Irishfolk, but the majority of each set list is pop.
Our audience is a couple of clubs for people with various disabilities, and they love it: and they know a lot of the words and sing along lustily.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 10:26 AM

I forgot this - Phil Beer sings The Hollies (Graham Gouldman)

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: gillymor
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 10:16 AM

Right, when I play the mandolin one of my warm-ups is that riff (sounds like an electric 12 string) that kicks off Herman's Hermits cover of Silhouettes. A scale exercise I do morphed into it.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 09:29 AM

When I pick up my concertina in a spare moment my fingers play whatever comes to them, mostly folk tunes, but they occasionally stray into all sorts of other genres. Not my fault at all. I'm not responsible for them as soon as they slip into those straps. As for style, they don't seem to know anything about that.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 07:57 AM

Any fans of "Hayseed Dixie" around here?

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 07:23 AM

Downes and Beer used to do Fox on the Run as well

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: gillymor
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 07:22 AM

Did anyone mention Fox on the Run. I think it was The Country Gentlemen who turned the Manfred Mann song into a Bluegrass standard here in the U.S.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: gillymor
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 06:51 AM

Wake the Dead, a band based in No. California, approaches some of the more accessible Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia songs from a "Celtic" angle and grafts them to traditional Irish and O'Carolan tunes. The instrumental work is stellar but the vocals can be a bit lacking, IMHO. They've recorded 2 or 3 CD's of this type of material.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: BobL
Date: 06 Jun 19 - 02:24 AM

Buddy Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Any More" is one of the few out-and-out pop songs that works on a G/D melodeon. Any others?

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,GUEST, Larry Poole
Date: 05 Jun 19 - 11:53 PM

I do a pop song from the eighties called "Banana Republics" written by Jimmy Buffett and Steve Goodman. I never heard the original (or havent heard it in thirty years) but learned it from a friend, who says I have now folked it (up?). I play it diatonically on a latin style harp, so I guess I have simplified the chords (and melody) slightly and play it as a medley with a Columbian melody (Tupinamba) which has my gringo version of a pasaje rhythm. The snide lyrics make it an "Unamericana" protest song in the best sixties tradition. Is it a folk song yet?

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 Jun 19 - 04:36 AM

Folk & traditional song words are deep & meaningful

What, like in seven drunken nights or froggie went a'courting or the Tailor's britches or... Oh, I think you get the picture :-)

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 05 Jun 19 - 04:34 AM

J admit all my early ideas about folk music were quite wrong.

At school we learned many real traditional folksongs in Singing Together radio programmes. However I would never have described them as folk songs, when I was a kid.

I suppose , the first time I heard music on the radio that I loved and heard described as folksong was The Kingston Trio singing Where have all the Flowers Gone?

I know now that my ideas were factually wrong. Tommy Roe's sentimental song The Folksinger, I probably would thought of that as folk music as well.

The thing is though, it was those radio friendly songs that were my first foray into acoustic guitar strumming. Those plummy voices with hearty piano accompaniment on Singing Together weren't the motivating factor.

So I don't sneer at people who think they're playing folk music when they try to strum out Ed Sheeran, or whatever. It's a start. And as Joey Fagan says in The Committments - I believe in starts!

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Jun 19 - 04:25 AM

Folk & traditional song words are deep & meaningful while most pop song words are shallow & ephemeral so anyone who can bring the latter to the level of a folksong has achieved something useful.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 06:42 PM

the PRS doesn't bother collecting for songs that are used and logged by mainstream radio stations. unless you have a lot of plays.

they really don't give a tinkers turd about what goes on in folk clubs.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: StephenH
Date: 04 Jun 19 - 06:12 PM

Thanks so much for that link, Dave the Gnome, it made my day.
One of the best things I've seen in a long time - nice to see musicians really enjoying themselves!
then, of course, I got lost down the rabbit hole.....

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Mrrzy
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 05:06 PM

Then there is that great Theo Bikel performance where he demonstrates how to turn anything (Ghost Riders in the Sky) into a folk song.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 02:14 PM

PFR - Re pop stars and ukeleles etc.

Check this out

Watch right to the end :-)

Enjoy.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 07:37 AM

Martin Carthy does the Bee Gees

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,Some folk
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 07:14 AM

If Harry Chapin were alive today, he'd be upset to be classed as anything but a folk singer...

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Iains
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 06:00 AM

There are many ways of categorizing a song, most of them subjective.
It would seem that putting labels on them and assigning them to various boxes is merely a convenience that allows a vast overlap.
Putting rigid definitions to somewhat arbitrary divisions results in an argument just waiting to happen. Better to just accept that different opinions exist and not get het up over it.
While academics may wish to discourse the bulk of humanity merely wishes to listen, or a small minority perform. If the song is not popular it dies. In the corpus of pop how many pass the old grey whistle test?
"yesterday" is over 50 years old. Do we regard it as pop or folk.
"Dancing queen" is equally as popular but I would argue it's impact is ephemeral whereas Yesterday plays on deeper emotions and to my mind give it greater longevity. My thoughts-others may have other conclusions.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 04:58 AM

All these posts sound very healthy to me- good to hear that many singers are not making daft distinctions- it reinforces my view that a good song is a good song & that folk/traditional song is a style (or many different ones) rather than a repertoire.

mind you, I don't think singing a slavish copy of a pop song is a great idea, even with a 'folk style' whatever that is, there has to be a bit of individuality involved here.
There has to be some doubt about famous 'folk' singers who slot a pop song into their performances of 'traditional' songs- maybe it's a gimmick rather than anything else?

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 04:18 AM

My friend, Simon Johnson from Grimsby, used to do a great folky-sounding version of Harry Chapin’s ‘Corey’s Comin’.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: The Sandman
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 04:13 AM

Richard Grainger did a good folk sounding version of a Harry Chapin song The Shortest Story

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 04:03 AM

RE: From: Neil D - PM Date: 01 Jun 19 - 03:23 PM

Richard Thompson covered the Brittany Spears song "Oops I Did It Again" on his album 1000 Years of Popular Music (2006), and in addition included a medieval-style version titled "Marry, Ageyn Hic Hev Donne Yt"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4WGsMplGxU

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,LynnH
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 03:35 AM

Dick Gaughan used to do a mean version of 'Ruby Tuesday' if my memory isn't letting me down.

As someone else has already pointed out, what we now consider to be 'folk song' were the only the pop hits of their day 200 years or so ago.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 03:28 AM

Dave Burland used to do a great version of "Love of the Common People" in DADGAD, if my memory serves. I think he said his children had been playing the Paul Young version...

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Jun 19 - 02:29 AM

Phil Hare makes a good job of many pop songs including Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" and medleying Planxty Irwin with Lola!

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 06:53 PM

I used to do a few from the Rolling Stones repertoire: "Goodbye Ruby Tuesday", "Play with Fire".
Also some Proclaimers' songs: "500 miles" and "Sunshine on Leith"
Runrig: on the borders between folk, folk/rock and pop: "Precious Years", "The Old Boys", and if I could cope with the Gaelic "An Ubhal Ard" and "Cearcal a Chuain".
I'm only a session singer or rare "floor spotter" so not into big public performance stuff.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 06:33 PM

Re Stringsinger's post above I think that just about describes how most if not all folk songs originate. If a song wasn't popular it would never be remembered by enough people to enable it to last. Unfortunately this simple straightforward logic upsets some people.

Regarding the feelings of pop and rock stars "tough titty", once you have made your efforts public you lose control of who and how your material is used by the people. Unless of course they try to claim it as their own and try earning from it.

Not trying to start an argument Frank but did Dan Emmett really write Dixie? Howard and Judith Sacks wrote a book "Way Up NORTH in DIXIE" where authorship is claimed by the Snowden family of musicians from Emmett's home town.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 05:45 PM

Smokey Robinson’s ‘Tracks of my Tears’ works very well, done gently with acoustic guitar, as does Deacon Blue’s ‘Dignity’.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 01:51 PM

I do know some Metallica purists who were highly offended:

Iron Horse - Enter Sandman

Oh well.

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 01:37 PM

Forget about the folk purists for a minute...

Anyone stopped to consider the feelings of pop and rock stars
having their songs abused by a bunch of amateurish folkie pillocks
with ukuleles and other barely learned xmas present folk instruments...!!!???

Subject: RE: Pop songs done in the 'folk style'
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 02 Jun 19 - 01:28 PM

The trouble about doing 'pop' songs in a 'folk' style is that it upsets the purists (especially in UK) & you wouldn't want to do that, would you?