An Every Folk Song chronology of some of the major Christmas songs in history. From The Friendly Beasts to Frosty the Snowman and more!

Matt takes a break from pure folk songs to bring you this look into the history of some of your favorite Christmas songs. This is a long one, so I advise you listen in chunks.

Happy Holidays!

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Roud 15 is called "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter," but if you know it, it would probably be as "Pretty Polly." And old English song about a brutal, calculated murder which became an American bluegrass standard, this song has a well-traced history behind it.

In this episode, I bring along Paul Slade of http://www.planetslade.com/ to talk about it with me.

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A little diversion from the normal path down the Roud Folk Index, Matt sets off on a quest to solve a mundane little mystery and discovers a horrific and little known true crime story with twists and a turns which consumes his life. 

Thanks to the Daviess County Historical Society and Museum and Don Cosby: https://www.daviesscountyhistory.com/

Thanks to Paul Slade: http://www.planetslade.com/

And HUGE thanks to The Windfarmers: https://soundcloud.com/user-485899048

And Adam Gordon: https://youtu.be/dpiQuuFz8DU

http://everyfolksong.xyz

Roud 14, "The Daemon Lover." Or "The House Carpenter." It's a song that epitomizes a literary and cultural motif that's been expounded on in depth by people a lot smarter than me, but I try to capture the ideas here.

A lot of people helped with this episode, so thanks to all of them, and all of your for listening.

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Roud 13 is called "The Dowie Dens of Yarrow." It is as much about a small area of Scotland and its history as it is about a man betrayed and the woman who mourns him.

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Roud 12 is called "The Elfin Knight." You would definitely know it better as "Scarborough Fair." It's about a magical man and his would-be young bride. And it's about an old merchant's fair in North Yorkshire. And it's about 4 herbs, which you know very well. 

There's a lot of modern history with this song, so as such, there's a LOT of information. 

http://everyfolksong.xyz

http://www.scarboroughsmaritimeheritage.org.uk/

This episode focuses on Roud 11, "The Baffled Knight." It's a moral swamp and I have a few breakdowns about it. The oldest published version was in 1609 and that's almost as long as it's been since I last released an episode.

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Roud 10, "Lord Randall" is the last song about murder for a little while, I think. Evolved from an old Italian song first printed in the 1600s, this English song has been incredibly popular. And it's one of Matt's favorite songs we've covered so far.

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 Roud 9, "The Cruel Mother." A product of the society and moral/political climate it formed in, this 400ish-year-old song weaves a haunting and disturbing tale. While possibly borne of politics long past, this song still has a deep impact when viewed against the social problems of the day. Another song about murder...

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Roud 8, "the Twa Sisters" or "the Two Sisters" or 30 different other titles. This ballad, first published in 1656, has its roots in European culture as far back to the 9th Century and spreads out like a great tree from there, with different leaves on each branch but the same trunk underneath. If you like the way I murdered that metaphor, you'll love this tale of murder and jealousy and dismemberment and fiddle-making.

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Roud 7, "The Female Highwayman" or "Sovay." This somewhat ridiculous ballad comes from the English countryside somewhere between the 16th and 18th centuries, and crops up in the countrysides of all English-speaking nations where highway robbery was a significant problem. It's a love song! About threatening to murder someone.

everyfolksong.xyz/