Listening List for November 18, 2025

In addition to the songs we didn't get to last time (starting with 'It Ain't Necessarily So) here are some songs to get you acquainted with the predecessors of Country Music.

Part one: THE BRITISH FOLK CONNECTION

An eclectic list of some British folk songs that display features later found in Country Music.

THE SEXUAL LIFE OF THE PRE-INDUSTRIAL BRITISH ISLES

Good clean, dirty fun:
SPOTTED COW
peformed by Steeleye Span
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yrXqcCGx9o

Can't Get No Satisfaction:
MY HUSBAND'S GOT NO COURAGE IN HIM
performed by the Silly Sisters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgEp2MGx30M

Two rather different versions of the same sordid (but true!!!!!) story:
ROSIE ANDERSON

performed by Smalltalk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV5-AsCHaPU

performed by the Silly Sisters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzMXDwsuxxk

SAME STORY – DIFFERENT SONGS

Two very different versions of the same story:
TWO SISTERS / CRUEL SISTER

Jolly Irish tune hiding gruesome deaths:
performed by Clannad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhnPOUyEomc

Haunting and atmospheric:
peformed by Pentangle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd-Rbia4SSU


Three very different versions of the same story:
D(A)EMON LOVER / HOUSE CARPENTER

Reimagined as a 1970s pop song:
performed by Steeleye Span
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yie8QRDfSUo

Janus version, traditional and modern for the times (1969):
performed by Pentangle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1YXPc5WKY8

Neo-traditional take (with Scottish accent):
performed by Alasdair Roberts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74_cLoeZZy0

OVER TO AMERICA, THE SAME, YET DIFFERENT

HOUSE CARPENTER

Undelicate and raw:
performed by Clarence Ashley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka0DOsIo4uE

Refined concert version:
performed by Joan Baez
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCQK3ii1uJs


KNOXVILLE GIRL
Irish murder ballad, transformed for American realities.
performed by the Louvin Brothers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkAdcEEHdRk

BARBARA/BARBRY ALLEN/ELLYN (among many variants, the most widespread folk song in English)

Hoedown hillybilly version:
performed by the Button Collective
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNk0a6_R0hY

Seventies pop-crooning semi-gothic version:
performed by Art Garfunkel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om5wGY9ty_Y

Atmosphereic a capella version:
performed by Jean Ritchie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTSP0ifyhO4

See y'all in class!