What do you think?
Rate this book
Texas Folk Songs (Publications of the Texas Folklore Society
“This volume is,” in Owens’s words, “a sampling of a rich experience in a richer land.” The 135 songs included, a number of them in versions by more than one singer, are divided into nine chapters containing British popular ballads, Anglo-American ballads, Anglo-American love songs, Anglo-American comic songs, songs and games for children, play-party songs and games, Anglo-American spirituals, African-American spirituals, and African-American secular songs. The British ballads were brought to America in the seventeenth century and later were carried westward to Texas by the adventurous pioneers who settled the state.
The American ballad section is full of the stories of battles, crimes, and catastrophes that appealed as subjects to our country’s folk singers when they adapted the British ballad traditions to their own use. There is heroism aplenty in these ballads; but when it came to love, the American singers deserted the heroically tragic tales of British balladry for mournful, plaintive songs in which the sad lover has nothing much to do but waste away in sorrow. Songs like these helped Texas pioneer women—and men also—to find release from the sternness of frontier life by “having a good cry.” On the other hand, humor, too, helped—raw, rugged, raucous humor, as the section of comic songs demonstrates.
New musical transcriptions of the melodies have been provided by musicologist Jessie Ann Owens from the original recordings, with guitar chords indicated where the singer provided accompaniment. Bibliographical source notes are included for the benefit of the scholar; but this is not a book just for scholars. These songs have been collected, as Owens has written, “for those who love to sing them as well as for those who have an interest in the past.”
The American ballad section is full of the stories of battles, crimes, and catastrophes that appealed as subjects to our country’s folk singers when they adapted the British ballad traditions to their own use. There is heroism aplenty in these ballads; but when it came to love, the American singers deserted the heroically tragic tales of British balladry for mournful, plaintive songs in which the sad lover has nothing much to do but waste away in sorrow. Songs like these helped Texas pioneer women—and men also—to find release from the sternness of frontier life by “having a good cry.” On the other hand, humor, too, helped—raw, rugged, raucous humor, as the section of comic songs demonstrates.
New musical transcriptions of the melodies have been provided by musicologist Jessie Ann Owens from the original recordings, with guitar chords indicated where the singer provided accompaniment. Bibliographical source notes are included for the benefit of the scholar; but this is not a book just for scholars. These songs have been collected, as Owens has written, “for those who love to sing them as well as for those who have an interest in the past.”
210 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1976
2 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 6, 2017
The book contains 135 Texas folk songs and ballads mostly Anglo-American in origin. There are several British ballads and Afro-American spirituals and other pieces. Both words and music scores are provided any most of the pieces have short historical blurbs. Some tunes contain politically incorrect language.
May 26, 2017
If you're interested in folk songs or Texas history/culture, this is a very interesting book. The songs were mostly collected in the 50s and several songs have at least two variations according to the singer. Some of the songs have short introductions/explanations going into the possible origins of the song and the variations that Owens (the collector) had come across, a few even included personal anecdotes from Owens himself and the memories that the song brought forward. Each song also includes a short transcription of the music; at first I skipped over these, but as I got farther into the book I ended up downloading a piano app on my phone and trying to play a few. This added a whole dimension to the content that, for some reason, I wasn't expecting.
There were a few times when I was made aware of the fact that folk songs really aren't shared any more, having been traded out for the radio and pop music. This mostly happened when the book would claim that a certain song was well known through out Texas and I, a native Texan, had never heard of it before. Most of the songs that I had heard were the British ballads, and that was mostly thanks to a combination of my love for 60s/70s era folk music and British folklore. It's kind of sad, really, that all of the songs were once well known and every family, it seemed, had their own variation, but now...I'm just glad this book exists.
I really enjoyed the British Ballads section as it talked about how folk songs move and change with the people who carry them. For instance, many of the British ballads that carried over to Texas were well known ballads originally recorded by Francis James Child (more commonly known as Child Ballads), however as the songs made their way to Texas, nearly all of them lost their original supernatural elements. One explanation for this could be that by the time settlers came to the states and made their way to Texas, they no longer believed in the fairy stories of their homeland, another is that they simply didn't have the time to believe while readjusting to the harsh realities of south western living (I feel it may have been a little of both). It was also interesting to see in the Anglo-American section how the words shift to accommodate the region even within the US. The Anglo-American love songs were especially heart breaking, many coming from the civil war and being about leaving loved ones behind.
My only gripe about this book is that the Afro-American secular section was very short, only including six songs in total. Since African-American spiritual songs have been so well recorded over the decades, I was interested to see some secular ones, especially the lullabies, and was disappointed by the small number that was included.
Despite that, this is a fascinating book with a wealth of knowledge that I'm glad to see has been preserved. Hopefully, it won't be long before they're brought back into the cultural repertoire.
There were a few times when I was made aware of the fact that folk songs really aren't shared any more, having been traded out for the radio and pop music. This mostly happened when the book would claim that a certain song was well known through out Texas and I, a native Texan, had never heard of it before. Most of the songs that I had heard were the British ballads, and that was mostly thanks to a combination of my love for 60s/70s era folk music and British folklore. It's kind of sad, really, that all of the songs were once well known and every family, it seemed, had their own variation, but now...I'm just glad this book exists.
I really enjoyed the British Ballads section as it talked about how folk songs move and change with the people who carry them. For instance, many of the British ballads that carried over to Texas were well known ballads originally recorded by Francis James Child (more commonly known as Child Ballads), however as the songs made their way to Texas, nearly all of them lost their original supernatural elements. One explanation for this could be that by the time settlers came to the states and made their way to Texas, they no longer believed in the fairy stories of their homeland, another is that they simply didn't have the time to believe while readjusting to the harsh realities of south western living (I feel it may have been a little of both). It was also interesting to see in the Anglo-American section how the words shift to accommodate the region even within the US. The Anglo-American love songs were especially heart breaking, many coming from the civil war and being about leaving loved ones behind.
My only gripe about this book is that the Afro-American secular section was very short, only including six songs in total. Since African-American spiritual songs have been so well recorded over the decades, I was interested to see some secular ones, especially the lullabies, and was disappointed by the small number that was included.
Despite that, this is a fascinating book with a wealth of knowledge that I'm glad to see has been preserved. Hopefully, it won't be long before they're brought back into the cultural repertoire.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews