The Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs

by Edith Fulton Fowke (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Music

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

Reviews

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was kind of a white whale for a while but I'm so glad I own it now. Essential reading for Canadians.

[Yycdaisy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of 82 songs. As the author says in the introduction, a majority of folk songs sung in Canada were inherited from France and Britain. She chose to use quite a few songs that still have the European tune, but the words were changed in Canada. Also, as the collection was aimed at English speaking audiences, only a sampling of French Canadian songs are included. Unfortunately she could not include any songs from other immigrants or from any first nations. Ontario and Newfoundland are most heavily represented with few songs from the west.

The songs are written out in standard notation. Some have guitar chords for songs that would benefit from an accompaniment. Others do not as the performance style would be a cappella. Most of the French language songs have English verses as well as the French ones. There is also a section at the back with notes on each of the songs.