100 essential folk songs

Post by **WampusCat** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:20 pm

Kent State University's folk music station Folk Alley polled its listeners to determine the 100 Most Essential Folk Songs, listed below for your convenience. The songs are streamed in random order at www.folkalley.com/lists

There are only a few on this list I'm not familiar with, and many I could sing all the way through. The variety of styles is impressive. And any list that includes Dougie MacLean's "Caledonia" and two songs from Stan Rogers has my seal of approval.

What do you think? Are there favorites of yours on the list? What was left out?

1. "This Land Is Your Land" - Woody Guthrie
2. "Blowin' in the Wind" - Bob Dylan
3. "City of New Orleans" - Steve Goodman
4. "If I Had a Hammer" - Pete Seeger
5. "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" - The Kingston Trio
6. "Early Morning Rain" - Gordon Lightfoot
7. "Suzanne" - Leonard Cohen
8. "We Shall Overcome" - Pete Seeger
9. "Four Strong Winds" - Ian and Sylvia
10. "Last Thing on My Mind" - Tom Paxton
11. "The Circle Game" - Joni Mitchell
12. "Tom Dooley" - The Kingston Trio (Trad)
13. "Both Sides Now" - Joni Mitchell
14. "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" - Sandy Denny
15. "Goodnight Irene" - The Weavers (Trad)
16. "Universal Soldier" - Buffy Sainte-Marie
17. "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" - Bob Dylan
18. "Diamonds and Rust" - Joan Baez
19. "Sounds of Silence" - Simon & Garfunkel
20. "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" - Gordon Lightfoot
21. "Alice's Restaurant" - Arlo Guthrie
22. "Turn, Turn, Turn!" - The Byrds (Pete Seeger)
23. "Puff the Magic Dragon" - Peter, Paul and Mary
24. "Thirsty Boots" - Eric Anderson
25. "There But for Fortune" - Phil Ochs
26. "Across the Great Divide" - Kate Wolf
27. "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" - The Band (Robbie Robertson)
28. "The Dutchman" - Steve Goodman
29. "Matty Groves" - Fairport Convention (Trad)
30. "Pastures of Plenty" - Woody Guthrie
31. "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" - Gordon Lightfoot
32. "Ramblin' Boy" - Tom Paxton
33. "Hello in There" - John Prine
34. "The Mary Ellen Carter" - Stan Rogers
35. "Scarborough Fair" - Martin Carthy (Trad)
36. "Freight Train" - Elizabeth Cotton
37. "Like a Rolling Stone" - Bob Dylan
38. "Paradise" - John Prine
39. "Northwest Passage" - Stan Rogers
40. "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" - Eric Bogel
41. "Changes" - Phil Ochs
42. "Streets of London" - Ralph McTell
43. "Gentle on My Mind" - John Hartford
44. "Barbara Allen" - Shirley Collins (Trad)
45. "Little Boxes" - Malvina Reynolds
46. "The Water Is Wide" - Traditional
47. "Blue Moon of Kentucky" - Bill Monroe
48. "No Regrets" - Tom Rush
49. "Amazing Grace" - Odetta (Trad)
50. "Catch the Wind" - Donovan
51. "If I Were a Carpenter" - Tim Hardin
52. "Big Yellow Taxi" - Joni Mitchell
53. "House of the Rising Sun" - Doc & Richard Watson (Trad)
54. "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" - The Weavers
55. "Tangled Up in Blue" - Bob Dylan
56. "The Boxer" - Simon and Garfunkel
57. "Someday Soon" - Ian and Sylvia
58. "Miles" - Peter, Paul and Mary
59. "Masters of War" - Bob Dylan
60. "Wildwood Flower" - Carter Family
61. "Can the Circle Be Unbroken" - Carter Family
62. "Can't Help but Wonder Where I'm Bound" - Tom Paxton
63. "Teach Your Children" - Crosby, Stills Nash & Young
64. "Deportee" - Woody Guthrie
65. "Tecumseh Valley" - Townes Van Zandt
66. "Mr. Bojangles" - Jerry Jeff Walker
67. "Cold Missouri Waters" - James Keeleghan
68. "The Crucifixion" - Phil Ochs
69. "Angel from Montgomery" - John Prine
70. "Christmas in the Trenches" - John McCutcheon
71. "John Henry" - Traditional
72. "Pack Up Your Sorrows" - Richard and Mimi Farina
73. "Dirty Old Town" - Ewan MacColl
74. "Caledonia" - Dougie MacLean
75. "Gentle Arms of Eden" - Dave Carter
76. "My Back Pages" - Bob Dylan
77. "Arrow" - Cheryl Wheeler
78. "Hallelujah" - Leonard Cohen
79. "Eve of Destruction" - Barry McGuire
80. "Man of Constant Sorrow" - Ralph Stanley (Trad)
81. "Shady Grove" - Traditional
82. "Pancho and Lefty" - Townes Van Zandt
83. "Old Man" - Neil Young
84. "Mr. Tambourine Man" - Bob Dylan
85. "American Tune" - Paul Simon
86. "At Seventeen" - Janis Ian
87. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon & Garfunkel
88. "Road" - Nick Drake
89. "Tam Lin" - Fairport Convention (Trad)
90. "Ashokan Farewell" - Jay Ungar and Molly Mason
91. "Desolation Row" - Bob Dylan
92. "Love Is Our Cross to Bear" - John Gorka
93. "Hobo's Lullaby" - Woody Guthrie
94. "Urge for Going" - Tom Rush
95. "Return of the Grievous Angel" - Gram Parsons
96. "Chilly Winds" - The Kingston Trio
97. "Fountain of Sorrow" - Jackson Browne
98. "The Times They Are A-Changin'" - Bob Dylan
99. "Our Town" - Iris Dement
100. "Leaving on a Jet Plane" - John Denver

Post by **axordil** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:25 pm

It's got two from Stan Rogers and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" on it. I can live with it.

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:31 pm

Wampus, that's not a list of 100 essential folk songs; it's a list of the 100 most essential songs of any kind, for my money. My earliest music memories are of my dad blasting Iain & Sylvia, the Kingston Trio, the Weavers, and lots of others on the hi-fi. Thank you for posting the list! It's full of wonderful memories (and songs I've got to go find and buy now).

Post by **WampusCat** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:41 pm

I agree. I was going to post a few I thought they overlooked, but the list put so many great songs in my mind that they drove out everything else.

And then I started up the stream of random songs on the list. Now I have songs I never knew stuck in my head!

I think my personal list of 100 essential songs of any kind would have to include quite a few from Broadway and classic rock, though.

Post by **WampusCat** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:51 pm

Here is a great video of "Caledonia."

Which reminds me. I like Dougie's song "Ready for the Storm" even more than "Caledonia." Here is a video of him performing it with Kathy Mattea.

I'd also like to have seen some James Taylor songs on the list: "Fire and Rain" for sure, "Sweet Baby James," perhaps "Carolina on my Mind"

Post by **yovargas** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:57 pm

And for the nerdish-list-ranking-ly inclined, here's the top artists:

Bob Dylan 8
Woody Guthrie 4
Gordon Lightfoot 3
John Prine Count 3
Joni Mitchell Count 3
Phil Ochs Count 3
Tom Paxton Count 3

These folks all have 2:
Carter Family
Fairport Convention (Trad)
Ian and Sylvia
Leonard Cohen
Pete Seeger
Peter, Paul and Mary
Simon & Garfunkel
Stan Rogers
Steve Goodman
The Kingston Trio
Tom Rush
Townes Van Zandt

The rest have one each. Except "Traditional".

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:58 pm

Oh, there are lots of essential songs. But these are essential to me in that they aren't necessarily linked to a specific performance; people, even people like me, can just sing them and enjoy them that way.

I could probably think of more to add even to this list. But it's a really wonderful list already.

Post by **Holbytla** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 8:07 pm

I like the list and know a good many of the songs on it.
Clearly the "older" folk legends were Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie along with maybe the Kingston Trio.
The "newer" wave was Dylan, Joni Mitchell, The Byrds (although they were sort of a crossover type group), The Mamas and the Papas (another crossover group) and John Sebastian and the Loving Spoonful.

Simon and Garfunkel were folkish, but also quite a bit pop-ish.

And there are definitely some Led Zeppelin songs I would add to that list.

Post by **WampusCat** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 8:12 pm

Led Zeppelin folk?

My son would argue for some Grateful Dead songs, with good cause.

Post by **Elentári** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 8:49 pm

So many songs there that I grew up to...

It has Leonard Cohen, Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel so I can live with it

And I could easily see "Stairway to Heaven" fitting right in there...

Post by **tinwë** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:02 pm

WampusCat wrote:Led Zeppelin folk?

Sure, That's the Way, Tangerine, Down By the Seaside, even Stairway To Heaven if you leave out the guitar send-up at the end

.

It's a good list as far as lists go, a lot of stuff there I'm not familiar with, but where's Hank? Surely there should be some Hank Williams on there somewhere? I Saw the Light perhaps, or maybe Hey Good Lookin' or Cold Cold Heart. You gotta have some Hank.

I'd throw in some Cat Stevens too, maybe some Nanci Griffith, and there's a whole slew of Bluegrass songs I'd add, but that's just me. Otherwise, I like it.

Post by **axordil** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:02 pm

A fair number of middle-period LZ is kinda British Folky. It was between the bluesy phase and the we're big enough to do whatever we want phase.

Post by **solicitr** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:05 pm

But not a *single* blues song. No Robert Johnson, no Muddy Waters, no Leadbelly (who actually wrote some of those songs), no Blind Lemon Jefferson, no Son House, no Rev Gary Davis....

Post by **Primula Baggins** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:40 pm

Blues isn't folk, solicitr.

Post by **Dave_LF** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:27 pm

I wonder how they decided which artists to credit. Pete Seeger recorded "We Shall Overcome", for example, but he certainly didn't write it.

Post by **Holbytla** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:00 am

And yet City of New Orleans was one of Arlo Guthrie's biggest hits even if he didn't write it, and wasn't credited with it.

Post by **WampusCat** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:37 am

I think the composer was credited unless it was traditional; then the performer was credited. I could be wrong on that, though.

I think I have to disagree with Prim about blues not being folk. A lot of traditional blues songs are at least as easy to categorize as folk as, say, "Eve of Destruction."

My off-the-cuff definition of a folk song is something that is usually performed acoustically and is easy enough to sing that ordinary people are likely to sit around singing it. Traditional blues songs certainly qualify.

A lot of the songs on this list tell stories or protest injustice/war/etc (or in some cases both, such as "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"). Perhaps that's because those songs engage the heart and mind in such a way that they are more memorable.

Post by **axordil** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:43 am

Folk songs have more lyrics than blues songs, as a rule, and lean towards story telling with emotional impact. The storytelling aspect of the blues is abbreviated in favor of said impact.

Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:03 am

I definitely consider at least some blues (e.g., Robert Johnson) as folk music.

Post by **axordil** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:13 am

Overlapping bell curves.