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09 Jan 07 - 08:38 PM (#1931905) Subject: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Azizi No disrespect at all intended, but somehow, I have this idea of European and European American folk songs as being slow or moderate in tempo, with very little percussive features. Is this true? If you were making a list of uptempo, percussive [is this the same thing?] folk songs of European origin or European American origin or otherwise, which songs would you list? Thanks for your input. |
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09 Jan 07 - 08:42 PM (#1931909) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Azizi I neglected to say to please use which ever definition of folk music that suits you. Best wishes, Azizi |
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09 Jan 07 - 08:45 PM (#1931910) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: DeeRod Having led an FSGW Get-a-way workshop on swashbuckling songs I suggest you start with the first Clancy Bros., and Dubliner's records I have a few million more suggestions too, but that should whet the appetite. Sorry, regretably no polkas. |
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09 Jan 07 - 09:19 PM (#1931923) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: wysiwyg Oldtime tends to be pretty uptempo. Uptempo and percussive are NOT the same thing, but what ultimately makes a tune uptempo is largely a question of how one chooses to interpret it-- so the list would be limited only by one's personal performance choices. Also, sung music will tend to be less percussive than fiddle tunes and other dance-oriented music. ~S~ |
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09 Jan 07 - 09:31 PM (#1931930) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Leadfingers A lot of polkas in English and Irish Dance and of course reels and jigs as well ! Some few thousand fairly up tempo songs in all our traditions , despite the slow ballads ! Even some of the newer fellows dont just write dreary navel gazing songs ! |
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09 Jan 07 - 09:47 PM (#1931945) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Jack Campin "Mary Mack". |
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09 Jan 07 - 10:30 PM (#1931963) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Rabbi-Sol Many songs by "The Weavers" were up tempo. For example "The Rock Island Line". Percussion and accoustic music somehow do not mix, just like oil and water. SOL ZELLER |
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09 Jan 07 - 11:48 PM (#1931993) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Amos Big Ball in Boston Rolling in My Sweet Baby's Arms Deep Water Blues Mule Skinner Blues Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blow, Ye Winds in the Morning Dozens of Irish songs, fishing songs, fighting songs, rebel songs, cowboys songs, railroad songs come to mind in a small flood which are op-tempo. A |
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10 Jan 07 - 12:41 AM (#1932021) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Bert Just a few for starters... Lincolnshire poacher Ilkley Moor Bah't 'at. Uncle Tom Cobley Begone Dull Care The Country Vicar The Schoolboy version of "One Man Went to Mow" Nobby Hall The Crawdad Song |
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10 Jan 07 - 12:44 AM (#1932023) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Cluin The Rocky Road to Dublin. Bog in the Valley-O |
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10 Jan 07 - 03:17 AM (#1932059) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: stallion I agree with WYSIWG on interpretation, sea shanties tend to be linked to the particular job in hand and the tempo that fits, we refer, effectionately, to the ones we do as "hamster wheel" shanties which are a tad up tempo. Also, there are examples of folk songs whose accompaniment is only the Bodran (ok I am not trying to spell it, I sing ok), see the Corries et al. |
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10 Jan 07 - 03:46 AM (#1932076) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: GUEST There are plenty of up-tempo songs here; unfortunately there is a tendency among singers today to slow them down a funereal pace (I blame the Wetersons, whose aim in life appeared to be to make all traditional songs sound the same). The result is that you can often leave a club or a session with the impression that you have only heard one song all night - lasting 2 hours. Jim Carroll |
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10 Jan 07 - 07:23 AM (#1932192) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Richard Bridge Funny that, I tend to speed many up - like Maui which I play as fast as I can do that tricky chord run Em D G B Em in the middle, and Gentlemen of High Renown which has had me accused of "You've been jazzing it up again". High Barbary can be quite horrid to play at the speed I like it. |
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10 Jan 07 - 11:10 AM (#1932363) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Scoville The following are mostly of European-American and/or much-diluted African-American origin and are, at least in my experience, usually moderate-to-fast tempo. Not all of them are particularly old, though (but then we're not that old a country, are we?). It's a bit of an odd question, though, because the distinctions between "singing" songs, dance tunes, fife tunes, etc. get blurry very fast, as does the "ancestry" of many songs, since many "white" folk tunes started out as published sheet music or were restructured from African-American tunes (Old Joe Clark, Little Liza Jane, etc.). And I'll warn you that my experience is mainly in string-band music, which is less likely to be sung and more likely to be played very fast, so I don't think folk music is particularly slow. From what I know of the ballads that are most near older British tradition (Barbara Allan, Barkshire Tragedy/Two Sisters, Lord Bateman, Old Bangum, etc.), yes, they do appear to be in the slower-to-moderate range, but it's hard to sing intelligibly much faster than that, and I don't know how British our versions of these still are. Dance tunes that are also commonly sung: Sugar in the Gourd Cotton-Eyed Joe Barlow Knife Way Down on the Old Plank Road Train on the Island Ida Red Sally Anne Wildwood Flower (ca. 1859--does that still count?) Dixie (ca. 1858. Sometimes played as a dirge, yes, but sounds better fast) Kingdom Coming (Year of Jubilo, probably ca. 1866) Fall on my Knees Danced All Night With a Bottle in my Hand Paddy, Won't You Drink Some Cider? Cluck, Old Hen Waterbound/Stay All Night Songs (not generally danced-to): Wild Bill Jones Been All Around This World (Hang Me, Oh, Hang Me) Bring the Traitors In Girl Behind the Bar (West-Side Tavern) Greenback Dollar (similar to Gold Watch & Chain) Johnson Boys Little Sadie Old Bangum (the one about the killer hog) |
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10 Jan 07 - 11:34 AM (#1932396) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Scrump I've sometimes found it interesting to sing a normally fast song more slowly and reflectively, or vice versa. It sometimes casts a different meaning on the lyrics. Sadly I can't think of a good example at present, but has anyone else noticed this? |
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10 Jan 07 - 01:22 PM (#1932493) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: McGrath of Harlow Rule of thumb is that stories are best told at a relatively leisurely pace, dancing is mostly done more uptempo; and this tends to apply in most cultures. Plenty of exceptions in both cases, butb that's what "rule of thumb" implies. |
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10 Jan 07 - 04:44 PM (#1932660) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Richard Bridge Compare "If you gotta make a fool of somebody" as done by Freddy and the Dreamers to the Bonnie Raitt version done at about half the speed, Scrump! |
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10 Jan 07 - 04:46 PM (#1932663) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Uncle_DaveO Songs that immediately come to my mind: The Old Chisholm Trail The Next Big River (I'm bound to cross) The Devil and the Farmer's Wife (aka The Farmer's Curst Wife) Some Little Bug Devilish Mary Lots more there, if I had time to sit here and think a while, but I don't. Dave Oesterreich |
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10 Jan 07 - 05:11 PM (#1932685) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Rowan The following is a quick trawl through some (more or less 'European') songs. Some are up tempo IMO and others are more measured but I wouldn't call any of them "slow". Some (eg the first listed) may seem "percussive" because of their use of particular words combined the usual tempo but I I think of percussion differently. I have a dim memory of a rtrack of a Five Hand Reel LP (?) with a Scottish side drummer playing solo that was almost as 'melodic' as many other tracks I've heard. Ditto a track of the bones played by the subset of musicians that had played with O'Riada at the Gaiety but who resisted becoming part of the Chieftains; can't remember their name(s) now. A proper cup of coffee Apprentice Song Battler's Ballad CHICKEN ON A RAFT Lazy Harry's Old Dun Cow Polly on the shore (Bowes et al) RUBBER BAND Sergeant Small Sweeny Todd the Demon Barber Sydney Harbour Ferry THE BLACKLEG MINER The Miner The Poison Train Wee pot stove Cheers, Rowan |
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11 Jan 07 - 11:38 AM (#1933388) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Janice in NJ Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy Rock About My Saro Jane Boil Them Cabbage Down Groundhog Devilish Mary Little Maggie Darling Corey Buffalo Gals Sail Away, Ladies If I Had My Way (Sampson) Down on Penny's Farm The Ox Driver's Song Red Apple Juice Risselty Rosselty |
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11 Jan 07 - 04:33 PM (#1933603) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: The Sandman good god, i,m agreeing with jim carroll again. Buffalo skinners,Ball of yarn,game of all fours,Boys of Killybegs,John Blunt, Old woman from wexford,Murshem gherkin,Blarney roses. |
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11 Jan 07 - 04:53 PM (#1933619) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Bill D Some songs are just not meant to be fast...and I have heard FAR too many things speeded up for some purpose I just don't comprehend. Just to cram more into a space? For adrenaline? To prove you can play fast? .....I dunno. Take the song "Shawnee Town", which is about poleing and rowing a boat....it truly suffers at Bluegrass tempo... ...and pumping shanties! They NEED a slow tempo to get the feel of what was going on. There are cute 'patter' songs which are fun to zip thru, but mercy! It ain't a race! |
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11 Jan 07 - 04:59 PM (#1933626) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton American folk songs depend on the area in which they were originated. As illustrated above, the dance tunes of the Appalachians tend to have lyrics, some used for dancer's calls and some to suggest humorous content. Many of these songs were crossed-over from the Minstrel Show tradition which was very popular in the South due to the touring companies of "Uncle Tom's Cabin". The tunes were widely used as dance tunes in "hoe-downs" or "set-runnings". Some of the more lugubrious ballads found themselves transformed into bowlderized versions that had humorous takes on serious subjects. The five-string banjo accompanied many of the songs from the earlier Minstrel Show tradition. Some of the songs were tongue-twisters with nonsense syllables that might have suggested Gaelic phrases as forebears. A lot of "bob-a-link-a-die-do's" in choruses are a case in point. "King-kong-kitchy cant'cha tie me O" etc. Many popular songs from the dance tradition in African-American blues party songs are uptempo and humorous such as "Diddy Wah Diddy" and Georgia Tom's "Tight Like That". Leadbelly had a number of these tunes in his repitiore. "Rock Island Line", "The Grey Goose", "Fannin' Street" and "You Can't Lose-a Me Charlie" come to mind. The notion of the ballad singer singing lugubrious songs is probably a recent one due to the image of the Joan Baez followers languishing in the coffee-houses of the 60's. This was an exagerration of the "ballad" rather than representative of the American folk tradition. Some uptempo folk songs to consider: "Come on girls we're going to Boston" "Fod" "Springfield Mountain" "Hoosen Johnny" (var. of "The Old Grey Mare" "Lynchburg Town" "Boil Them Cabbages Down" "Poor Liza Jane" "Goin' Down to Cripple Creek" "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy" "I Don't Lie, Buddy" (Lead and Josh) "Ten Nights Drunk" "Ole Rueben".."Train 45" "Cindy" "Old Joe Clark" "Train on the Island" "Eggs and Marrowbone" "Shady Grove" "Poor Howard's Dead and Gone" "Goin' Down to Cairo (Kay-ro) "Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago" "Sourwood Mountain" "Jubilee" "Year of Jubilo" "Bowlin' Green" and many more. Frank |
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11 Jan 07 - 05:06 PM (#1933638) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: jacqui.c Landlord Fill the Flowing Bowl Ye Jacobites By Name |
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11 Jan 07 - 08:19 PM (#1933832) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Cluin Tzena Tzena |
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12 Jan 07 - 12:28 PM (#1934470) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: Willa Brisk Young Widow, Jeannie Johnson, One Eyed Cook, Sovay, I Live Not Where I Love, Linden Lea |
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12 Jan 07 - 12:34 PM (#1934472) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: The Sandman I live not whereI love, up tempo,NO Its modereato[at the fastest], the lyrics are reflective. |
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12 Jan 07 - 02:38 PM (#1934575) Subject: RE: Uptempo Folk Songs From: GUEST Says the man who also lists "Murshem gherkin"! |