Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud, a former librarian in the London Borough of Croydon.

Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadside Index (printed sources before 1900) and a "field-recording index" compiled by Roud. It subsumes all the previous well-known printed sources known to Francis James Child (the Child Ballads) and includes recordings from 1900 to 1975.

Until early 2006 the index was available only by a CD subscription; it can now be found online on a website maintained by the English Folk Dance and Song Society.[1]

Contents

Function of index

The primary function of the Roud Folk Song Index is to act as a research aid which correlates versions of traditional folk song lyrics that have been independently documented over past centuries by many different collectors across both the UK and North America. It is possible by searching the database, for example by title, by first line(s), or subject matter (or a combination of any of a dozen fields) to locate each of the often numerous variants of a particular song. Comprehensive details of those songs are then available, including details of the original collected source, and a reference to where to find the text (and possibly music) of the song within a published volume in the EFDSS archive.

A related index, known as the "Roud Broadside Index", includes references to songs which appeared on broadsides and other cheap print publications, up to about 1920. In addition, there are many entries for music hall songs, pre-World War II radio performers’ song folios, sheet music, etc. The index may be searched by title, first line etc and the result includes details of the original imprint and where a copy may be located. The "Roud num" field may be used as a cross-reference to the Roud Folk Song Index itself in order to establish the traditional origin of the work.

The database is recognised as a "significant index" by the EFDSS [2] and was one of the first items to be published on its web site after the launch of the online version of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library in 2006.

Numbering scheme and cross references

Related songs are grouped under the same Roud number. Older songs tend to occupy low numbers, but songs which are obscure are given higher numbers. This explains why "Sheath and Knife" (Child 16) is Roud 3960. If a trusted authority gives the name of a song but doesn't give the words, it is assigned Roud number 000. "Brigg Fair" (Roud 1083), "I'll Tell Me Ma" (Roud 2649) and "Cuckoo's Nest" (Roud 5407) are undocumented before 1898. The most modern folk songs were still being discovered in the 1970s in the Ozark Mountains.

The Index cross references to the Childs Ballad number, if one is available for the particular song in question. It also includes, where appropriate, the so-called Laws number, a reference to a system of codification of folk songs using one letter of the alphabet and up to two numeric digits, developed by G Malcolm Laws jnr in the 1950s.

Compiler

Steve Roud was formerly the Local Studies Librarian in the London Borough of Croydon. He was also Honorary Librarian of the Folklore Society. He is the co-author of A Dictionary of English Folklore (2005, ISBN 0-19-860766-0). Starting in 1993 he input various fields to a database, listing the source singer (if known), his locality, the date of noting the song, the publisher (book or recorded source), plus other fields. In the past few years the numbers have been widely accepted in academic circles.

In 2009, Steve Roud was one of five people that year to be awarded the Gold Badge of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.[3] This award recognises "unique or outstanding contributions to folk music, dance or song, distinguished service to the Society and/or exceptional contributions to the Society’s work".

Similar collections

The Traditional Ballad Index at the California State University at Fresno includes Roud numbers up to number 5000;[4] it includes comments on the songs, but draws on fewer sources.[5]

The Folk Song Index [6] is a collaborative project between the Oberlin College Library and a not-for-profit, educational organization called Sing Out!. This is an index to traditional folk songs of the world, with an emphasis on English-language songs, containing over 62,000 entries and including over 2,400 anthologies.

Max Hunter's collection[7] lists 1,600 songs, but each minor variant is given a distinct number.

James Madison Carpenter's collection has 6,200 transcriptions and 1000 recorded cylinders made between 1927 and 1955.[8] The index gives the title, first line and the name of the source singer. When appropriate, the Child number is given. It is still a largely unexploited resource, with none of the recordings easily available.

The Essen folk song database [9] is another collection that includes songs from non English-speaking countries, particularly Germany and China.

List of selected folk songs by Roud number

1 to 100

  1. "The Gypsy Laddie" (Child 200)
  2. "The Streets of Laredo" (Laws B1)
  3. "Garners Gay" ("Rue", "The Sprig of Thyme")
  4. "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (Child 73)
  5. "The Three Ravens" (Child 26)
  6. "Lamkin" (Child 93)
  7. "The Female Highwayman" or "Sovay" (Laws N21)
  8. "The Twa Sisters" (Child 10)
  9. "The Cruel Mother" (Child 20)
  10. "Lord Randal" (Child 12)
  11. "The Baffled Knight" (Child 112)
  12. "The Elfin Knight" (Child 2) (also "Scarborough Fair")
  13. "The Dowie Dens o Yarrow" (Child 214)
  14. "The Daemon Lover" ("The House Carpenter") (Child 243)
  15. "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" ("The Gosport Tragedy"; "Pretty Polly") (Laws P36A/B)
  16. "Frog Went A-Courting"
  17. "The Three Butchers" ("Dixon and Johnson") (Laws L4)
  18. "The Bramble Briar" ("The Merchant's Daughter"; "In Bruton Town") (Laws M32)
  19. "Honest Labourer" ("The Jolly Thresher", "Poor Man, Poor Man", "The Nobleman and the Thresher")
  20. "The Fause Knight Upon the Road" (Child 3)
  21. "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" (Child 4)
  22. "Gil Brenton" (Child 5)
  23. "Earl Brand" (Child 7)
  24. "Erlinton" (Child 8)
  25. "The Fair Flower of Northumberland" (Child 9)
  26. "The Cruel Brother" (Child 11)
  27. "Babylon", or, "The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (Child 14)
  28. "Hind Horn" (Child 17)
  29. "Sir Lionel" (Child 18)
  30. "Willie's Lyke-Wake" (Child 25)
  31. "A-Growing" ("He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing") (Laws O35)
  32. "Kempy Kay" (Child 33)
  33. "Hind Etin" (Child 41)
  34. "The Broomfield Hill" (Child 43)
  35. "Tam Lin" (Child 39)
  36. "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (Child 46)
  37. "Proud Lady Margaret" (Child 47)
  38. "The Twa Brothers" (Child 49)
  39. "The King's Dochter Lady Jean" (Child 52)
  40. "Young Beichan" (Child 53)
  41. "Sir Patrick Spens" (Child 58)
  42. "Fair Annie" (Child 62)
  43. "Child Waters" (Child 63)
  44. "Fair Janet" (Child 64)
  45. "Lady Maisry" (Child 65)
  46. "Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet" (Child 66)
  47. "Young Hunting" (Child 68)
  48. "Lord Lovel" (Child 75)
  49. "The Lass of Roch Royal" (Child 76)
  50. "Sweet William's Ghost" (Child 77)
  51. "The Unquiet Grave" (Child 78)
  52. "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (Child 81)
  53. "Child Maurice" (Child 83)
  54. "Bonny Barbara Allan" (Child 84)
  55. "Prince Robert" (Child 87)
  56. "Young Johnstone" (Child 88)
  57. "Fause Foodrage" (Child 89)
  58. "Jellon Grame" (Child 90)
  59. "Fair Mary of Wallington" (Child 91)
  60. "Brisk Young Sailor (Courted Me)", "The Alehouse", "Died For Love", etc (Laws P25)
  61. "The Gay Goshawk" (Child 96)
  62. "Brown Robyn" (Child 97)
  63. "Johnie Scot" (Child 99)
  64. "Willie o Winsbury" (Child 100)
  65. "Willie o Douglas Dale" (Child 101)
  66. "Tom Potts" (Child 109)
  67. "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (Child 110)
  68. "The Twelve Days of Christmas"
  69. "Johnie Cock" (Child 114)
  70. "A Gest of Robyn Hode" (Child 117)
  71. "Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires" (Child 140)
  72. "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine" (Child 145)
  73. "Sir Hugh", or, "The Jew's Daughter" (Child 155)
  74. "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (Child 156)
  75. "Gude Wallace" (Child 157)
  76. "Johnie Armstrong" (Child 169)
  77. "The Death of Queen Jane" (Child 170)
  78. "Six Dukes Went a-Fishing"
  79. "Mary Hamilton" (Child 173)
  80. "Captain Car", or, "Edom o Gordon" (Child 178)
  81. "The Laird o Logie" (Child 182)
  82. "Jock o the Side" (Child 187)
  83. "Archie o Cawfield" (Child 188)
  84. "Hughie Grame" (Child 191)
  85. "The Lochmaben Harper" or The Blind Harper (Child 192)
  86. No record
  87. "Jamie Douglas"; "Waly Waly"; "The Water Is Wide"; "When Cockleshells Turn Silver Bells (Child 204)
  88. "Lord Delamere" (Child 207)
  89. "Lord Derwentwater" (Child 208)
  90. "Geordie" (Child 209)
  91. "The Mother's Malison", or "Clyde's Water" (Child 216)
  92. "Broom of the Cowdenknowes" (Child 217)
  93. "Katharine Jaffray" (Child 221)
  94. "Lizie Lindsay" (Child 226)
  95. "Glasgow Peggy" (Child 228)
  96. "The Earl of Errol" (Child 231)
  97. "Richie Story" (Child 232)
  98. "Andrew Lammie" (Child 233)
  99. "The Earl of Aboyne" (Child 235)
  100. "Bonny Baby Livingston" (Child 222)

101 to 200

201 to 999

This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

1000 to 8999

This list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

9,000 and above

References

  1. ^ Roud Folk Song Index from the website of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
  2. ^ EFDSS Library Indexes from the website of the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
  3. ^ EFDSS Gold Badge Award Holders from the website of the English Folk Dance and Song Society
  4. ^ The Traditional Ballad Index from a California State University, Fresno website
  5. ^ For example the Roud Folk Song Index shows 22 sources for "Hind Etin" (Roud 33, Child 41), while the Traditional Ballad Index list only one source.
  6. ^ The Folk Song Index from their own website
  7. ^ Max Hunter's collection from the website of Missouri State University
  8. ^ Searchable index of James Madison Carpenter's collection from a University of Sheffield website
  9. ^ Essen folk song database a collaboration by Stanford University and Ohio State University