Adventure Tunes

[TheMetal]

I am looking for some adventure tunes to play for my son. Something that tells a story. Any takers?

[Dagger Gordon]

Plenty in Scotland.

The Skye Boat Song, The Massacre of Glencoe, various marches named after battles etc.

For something a bit more epic maybe something from the Brendan Voyage by Irish composer Sean Davey, which featured Liam O'Flynn on pipes.

[TheMetal]

Plenty in Scotland.

The Skye Boat Song, The Massacre of Glencoe, various marches named after battles etc.

For something a bit more epic maybe something from the Brendan Voyage by Irish composer Sean Davey, which featured Liam O'Flynn on pipes.

Thanks!! I play the pipes myself.

[Martin Jonas]

I think the word you're looking for is "ballad". Lots of good folk ballads out there. Try Tam Lin, Sir Patrick Spens, Henry Martin, Arthur McBride, Matty Groves/Little Musgrave, Banks of the Nile, False Knight On The Road, The Demon Lover, Jack Orion -- too many to list. They generally come in three broad categories: "folk ballads", which are the grand old story songs collected by Francis James Child in the 19th century. Then there are the "street ballads" (or "broadside ballads"), generally somewhat more prosaic and/or journalistic in nature than the folk ballads (although not necessarily any less old), these are songs originally written by hacks and printed in huge numbers on single sheets of paper ("broadsides") sold for a penny, with the better ones then passing into the tradition and being smoothed (and generally improved) by the folk process, also known as "Chinese whispers". Finally, there are industrial work songs (see shanties etc), which are also often narrative in nature, but generally more recent and more urban than the rural folk song/ballad.

Other than that, there are also some excellent non-traditional ballads (i.e. those with an identifiable author). "The Highwayman" is very good (recorded to different tunes, but equally good, by Phil Ochs and by Andy Irvine). A more recent one that is very popular with the bluegrass crowd in particular is Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning", and he has written many other good story songs -- I like "Woods Of Darney", "A Love You Can't Survive", "Guns Are The Tongues" for starters. All pretty dark, though.

Martin

[TheMetal]

That is exactly what I was talking about. Thank you very much.

[journeybear]

A crucial bit of information is the age of your son. Some of the best songs along these lines tell great stories but have mature themes and/or imagery. "1952 Vincent" has a bit of lust and death in it, however well told. And the song that came to my mind, Robert Earl Keen's "The Road Goes On Forever" (I prefer Joe Ely's version) is pretty violent. So I'm thinking you might want to look a bit further back, to when country was called Country & Western, because some of those Western songs told great stories. "El Paso," "Ghost Riders In The Sky," "Me And My Uncle," "Tennessee Stud" - well, kind of keep bumping up against death, don't we ... oh well ...

There's also Woody Guthrie - "Pretty Boy Floyd," "Tom Joad," that kind of stuff - lots of stories.

[Loretta Callahan]

I'll second Skye Boat Song; I always get teary. Speaking of battle songs,After the Battle of Aughrim has a lot of versions to check out.

I love Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore, especially the young Paul Brady's version.

[M.Marmot]

Plenty of ballads, and ballad collections are available on the net, try the Childe collection, which can boast songs that are performed on either side of the Atlantic.

Then, as mentioned above, you have the country ballads and also have a lot of the Texan singer-songwriters who seem to specialize in story songs.

Really you are spoiled for riches, the, question is trying to find material that would be suitable for your child, as a lot of these songs were intended for adult audiences and are rife with tales of sex and murder, just like classical myths.

So, if you might be in a bit of a pickle trying to find something that does not involve disembowling, decapitation, body-dumping, murder, suicide, rambling, gambling, innuendos, strolling out of a morn to take advantage of various innocent maids and not so innocent bawds, loving and leaving, mothers grieving, children orphened, natural disasters, manmade disasters, slugs, snails, and puppy dog tails.

The ultimate has to be if you take your line from Benjamin Bagby, who, accompanying himself with a medieval harp, re-tells ancient myth cycles such as Beowulf, The Icelandic Edda, and the Rheingold Curse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y13cE...eature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooj25_j3k1E&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB7hp...eature=channel

[Bertram Henze]

No adventure without pains, but humor can make up for it.
My favourite is The Sick Note. It was even investigated in this Mythbusters episode.

[journeybear]

I repeat: It would really help us if the OP would give us his son's age.

[Charlieshafer]

I'll just assume he's old enough to enjoy a good seafaring tune with warfare, drownings, and ghost coming back to drown the evil Captain. "The Golden Vanity." It's not found too often, and appears in a few books, but the easiest way to get in the spirit of it is on Crooked Still's "Live" cd. They've left off a few verses for the sake of brevity, but you can find the full lyrics somewhere, I'm sure.

[TheMetal]

Thank you all. I have quite a list to start learning... BTW he is 2 and likes to listen to me play. I fully plan on not singing the lyrics to some of these until he is older.

[journeybear]

Well, at age 2 a lot of this stuff is going to go way over his head, which may free you up a bit until he gets a little older. Though still, it will take a long time to get through some of these songs if he keeps stopping you to ask, "Daddy, what's __________ ?"

Have fun with this!

[JeffPedErp]

Try this book by Kate Thompson "The New Policeman" It's a story from Ireland about the "fairy people" and each chapter is based on a tune that has the music notation at the end of each chapter. It's a great read and the tunes are lovely too. Read the reviews.

http://www.amazon.com/New-Policeman-.../dp/037032823X

[M.Marmot]

Now that i have a gauge on what age we are talking about i'd suggest you might get a kick from 'Not For Kids Only' an album by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman.

Some great songs on there, that'll be just the job for songs for your boy, he'll be able to join in too