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Category Archives: folk music
Love in folk songs
I’ve been listening to Nic Jones (great man; his set at Towersey a few years ago is one of the highlights of my musical experience) and, well, after an evening in the company of Annachie Gordon and a Bonny Light … Continue reading
Posted in Child Ballad, folk music, folk song, love, Music, Nic Jones, verse
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Songs behind stories
This started out as a blog about folk songs. It’s evolved since then into a more general blog about books and writing, but the songs are still there in the background to my work. The inspiration they provide is nothing … Continue reading
Posted in After the Ruin, Child Ballad, fantasy novel, folk music, folk song, The Crooked Path, thoughts
Tagged After the Ruin, The Crooked Path
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An encounter with Captain Wedderburn
Yesterday I visited Rosslyn Chapel. It wasn’t raining, I wanted to get out of the city for a couple of hours and the chapel does, of course, have some of the finest and most characterful mediaeval stone carvings in Scotland, … Continue reading
Posted in Child Ballad, folk music, folk song, Scotland
Tagged Captain Wedderburn, Rosslyn Chapel
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Comfort listening: five songs
This started off as a blog about folk songs. I haven’t talked about them much recently but they are there still as the backdrop to my writing and so, to give you something of their flavour, here’s a post about five of the Child … Continue reading
Posted in Child Ballad, folk music, folk song, Music
Tagged Bellowhead, Child Ballad, Dr Faustus, folk song, Karine Polwart, Malinky, Martin Carthy, Oxford Book of Ballads
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Short Story: Usher’s Well
She waits by the window. Behind her, the kitchen clock beats out the time. Seconds slip away into minutes; minutes pile up into hours. Strangers’ voices fill the room: the pips, the news, The Archers, drama, more news. She listens. … Continue reading
Posted in Child Ballad, death, folk music, folk song, Harriet Goodchild author, Karine Polwart, Music, short story
Tagged folksong, ghosts, Hamlet, short story, Wife of Usher's Well
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Selkies
It’s been a while since I posted on a folksong but I’ve had one going around in my mind for a fair time. It’s Child Ballad no. 113, The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie. The version in my music collection … Continue reading
Night visiting
Well, it’s autumn, the evenings are darkening, the clocks are about to go back and Hallowe’en is approaching. Time to think about ghost stories. One of the most poignant I know is the Wife of Usher’s Well (Child Ballad no. … Continue reading
Posted in Allegory, Child Ballad, death, folk music, folk song, Karine Polwart, love, Music
Tagged Bellowhead, bereavement, Child Ballad, faithful unto death, folk song, folksong, Hamlet, Karine Polwart, love, Wife of Usher's Well
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The tender side of a monster
History in song again. I think Henry VIII a monstrous figure, even within the context of his time. He set no limit on himself, and others suffered for it. Nevertheless there is a very tender portrayal of him in Child … Continue reading
Posted in Child Ballad, death, folk music, folk song, Henry VIII, Jane Seymour, love, Music
Tagged Child Ballad, death, English history, faithful unto death, folksong, Hampton Court, Henry VIII, Jane Seymour, Karine Polwart, love, Tudor
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Lady Glencora and Lord Bateman
I’m going to follow up my post on Kidnapped with another one exploring a folk song reference in a nineteenth century novel. This time the book is Anthony Trollope’s Can You Forgive Her? and the song is Lord Bateman (sometimes … Continue reading
Blood in the borders
Very short post this one: a reminder that the United Kingdom hasn’t always been so, and may not be so again. History’s a bloody, messy thing and today’s a day to remember that. It’s the 499th anniversary of the battle of … Continue reading
Posted in Child Ballad, folk music, folk song, Scotland
Tagged Alison O'Donnell, Battles, Child Ballad, Flodden Field, folk song, folksong, Henry VIII, James IV, Owl Service
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