Song Books

Books of folk songs can be comprehensive anthologies of songs from a region, from a country, or a nation. Three important ones published in the early part of the current revival are:

• The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, by AL Loyd and Ralph Vaughan Williams, several editions from 1959 onwards, Penguin Books

• The Singing Island, by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, 1960, Mills Books

• Folk Songs of Great Britain and Ireland, by Peter Kennedy, 1975, Cassell

The last two of these have the songs arranged by theme and so are useful for finding songs on a particular topic.