Dictionary.com defines a folk song as: (noun) a song originating among the people of a country or area, passed by oral tradition from one singer or generation to the next, often existing in several versions, and marked generally by simple, modal melody and stanzaic, narrative verse. Also, a song of similar character written by a known composer. (Stanzaic – as in having stanzas or verses) That goes with what I always say about folk songs: that there are as many different ways to sing one as there are people singing it.
Wikipedia goes on to tell us that the terms folksong, folk music and folk dance are off-shoots of the term folklore that was coined in 1846 by the English writer William Thoms, who used it to describe : "the traditions, customs, and superstitions of the uncultured classes". The article goes on to talk a bit about the German concept of volk, which can describe the people as a whole, as in nation or tribe.
So, there is a phrase in the paragraph above that sticks out: the uncultured classes. As opposed to the cultured classes, I suppose. Some of that makes sense. In the case of many folk songs, we do not know when they were written or who wrote them. Many go so far back that they predate literacy, (although, that may not be as far back as you might think.) The more cultured, literate classes had opera, and art songs; songs that we know who composed them and when. Often, they require a bit of musical training, or in the case of opera, a lot of training, to perform. Folk songs tend to be simpler and require little to no training.
Rather than talk about the folk song in general, this month I’m going to look at four different folk songs. To start things off, this week we are looking at Down in the Valley.
When I am teaching guitar, Down in the Valley is one of the first songs that I give young guitar students. While a lot of songs require at least three chords, Down in the Valley only needs two, this makes it easy for young fingers to accommodate. And a lot of kids still learn it in early schooling. A lot of folk songs show up in preschool and kindergarten classrooms.
We can get a little bit of an idea when the melody for Down in the Valley was written and by whom. The site secondhandsongs.com says that the melody can be traced to the first part of The Happy Home Waltz by Louis-Antione Julienn. I was not able to find anything on this waltz to verify this information. The only Happy Home Waltz I could find was by a different composer and bore no resemblance to Down in the Valley. However, since we know that Julienn was around from 1812 to 1860, that gives us a rough time period for the melody of this song. (A rabbit hole I fell down gave me this piece of information on Julienn – his father was a violinist, and when it came time for his infant son to be baptized he asked the symphony where he worked if anyone wanted to be the baby’s godfather. Everyone volunteered. This gave the boy the full name of: Louis George Maurice Adolphe Roche Albert Abel Antonio Alexandre Noë Jean Lucien Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas Thomas Thomas-Thomas Pierre Arbon Pierre-Maurel Barthélemi Artus Alphonse Bertrand Dieudonné Emanuel Josué Vincent Luc Michel Jules-de-la-plane Jules-Bazin Julio César Jullien.)
The lyrics for Down in the Valley often get mushed up with the lyrics for Birmingham Jail. No one knows where Valley lyrics originated, but the guitarist Jimmie Tarlton of the country duo Darby and Tarlton claimed that he wrote the Birmingham Jail lyrics while in said jail for moonshining in 1925. However, Lead Belly claimed that he performed Birmingham Jail in 1924, so who knows.
If we go to Ireland, we find the same melody and a lot of the same lyrics as Down in the Valley in a piece called the Connemara Cradle Song. It appears that the first recording of this was somewhere in the 1930s or 1940s, but that doesn’t mean that the song is that new.
Is it possible that Mr. Very-Long-Name Julienn heard the folksong and stole it for his waltz that I cannot find? Absolutely. He spent time in both Ireland and the United States. He was kicked out of the Paris Conservatoire because of his love for the lighter forms of music. It was also not uncommon for composers to borrow from folk music. Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) used Norwegian folk music in a lot of his compositions, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) did the same with Swedish folk music, and Bedrich Smetana (1884-1884) did that with Czech music. So, there was a movement in the mid- 19th century to borrow themes and melodies from folk music.
And, to make things even more confusing, Kurt Weill (who composed Mack the Knife among many, many other things) wrote an opera with words by Arnold Sundgaard called Down in the Valley. The opera uses several folk songs to tell its story, along with a few songs composed specifically for it. This opera is in English and is very short, at only 35 minutes. So much for the “uncultured classes” of William Thoms, huh?
Here are some of the lyrics of Down in the Valley.
Down in the valley
Valley so low
Hang your head over
Hear the wind blow.
Hear the wind blow, dear
Hear the wind blow
Hang your head over
Hear the wind blow
If you don’t love me
Love whom you please
But throw your arms round me
Give my heart ease
Give my heart ease, dear
Give my heart ease
Throw your arms round me
Give my heart ease
Roses love sunshine
Violets love dew
Angels in heaven
Know I love you
Know I love you, dear
Know I love you
Angels in heaven
Know I love you
Bird in a cage, love
Bird in a cage
Dying for freedom
Ever a slave
Ever a slave, dear
Ever a slave
Dying for freedom
Ever a slave
Write me a letter
Send it by mail
Send it in care of
The Birmingham jail
Birmingham jail, love
Birmingham jail
Send it in care of
The Birmingham jail
That is only a small sample of all of the lyrics for this “simple” folk song. As I said at the beginning, there are as many different variations of this song as there are people who sing it.
Do you have a favorite version of this song? Like me, did you learn it in kindergarten? Tell me your story in the comments below. I’ll be posting this and some of my other favorite folk songs this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check those out.
Until next time!
Wikipedia goes on to tell us that the terms folksong, folk music and folk dance are off-shoots of the term folklore that was coined in 1846 by the English writer William Thoms, who used it to describe : "the traditions, customs, and superstitions of the uncultured classes". The article goes on to talk a bit about the German concept of volk, which can describe the people as a whole, as in nation or tribe.
So, there is a phrase in the paragraph above that sticks out: the uncultured classes. As opposed to the cultured classes, I suppose. Some of that makes sense. In the case of many folk songs, we do not know when they were written or who wrote them. Many go so far back that they predate literacy, (although, that may not be as far back as you might think.) The more cultured, literate classes had opera, and art songs; songs that we know who composed them and when. Often, they require a bit of musical training, or in the case of opera, a lot of training, to perform. Folk songs tend to be simpler and require little to no training.
Rather than talk about the folk song in general, this month I’m going to look at four different folk songs. To start things off, this week we are looking at Down in the Valley.
When I am teaching guitar, Down in the Valley is one of the first songs that I give young guitar students. While a lot of songs require at least three chords, Down in the Valley only needs two, this makes it easy for young fingers to accommodate. And a lot of kids still learn it in early schooling. A lot of folk songs show up in preschool and kindergarten classrooms.
We can get a little bit of an idea when the melody for Down in the Valley was written and by whom. The site secondhandsongs.com says that the melody can be traced to the first part of The Happy Home Waltz by Louis-Antione Julienn. I was not able to find anything on this waltz to verify this information. The only Happy Home Waltz I could find was by a different composer and bore no resemblance to Down in the Valley. However, since we know that Julienn was around from 1812 to 1860, that gives us a rough time period for the melody of this song. (A rabbit hole I fell down gave me this piece of information on Julienn – his father was a violinist, and when it came time for his infant son to be baptized he asked the symphony where he worked if anyone wanted to be the baby’s godfather. Everyone volunteered. This gave the boy the full name of: Louis George Maurice Adolphe Roche Albert Abel Antonio Alexandre Noë Jean Lucien Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas Thomas Thomas-Thomas Pierre Arbon Pierre-Maurel Barthélemi Artus Alphonse Bertrand Dieudonné Emanuel Josué Vincent Luc Michel Jules-de-la-plane Jules-Bazin Julio César Jullien.)
The lyrics for Down in the Valley often get mushed up with the lyrics for Birmingham Jail. No one knows where Valley lyrics originated, but the guitarist Jimmie Tarlton of the country duo Darby and Tarlton claimed that he wrote the Birmingham Jail lyrics while in said jail for moonshining in 1925. However, Lead Belly claimed that he performed Birmingham Jail in 1924, so who knows.
If we go to Ireland, we find the same melody and a lot of the same lyrics as Down in the Valley in a piece called the Connemara Cradle Song. It appears that the first recording of this was somewhere in the 1930s or 1940s, but that doesn’t mean that the song is that new.
Is it possible that Mr. Very-Long-Name Julienn heard the folksong and stole it for his waltz that I cannot find? Absolutely. He spent time in both Ireland and the United States. He was kicked out of the Paris Conservatoire because of his love for the lighter forms of music. It was also not uncommon for composers to borrow from folk music. Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) used Norwegian folk music in a lot of his compositions, Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) did the same with Swedish folk music, and Bedrich Smetana (1884-1884) did that with Czech music. So, there was a movement in the mid- 19th century to borrow themes and melodies from folk music.
And, to make things even more confusing, Kurt Weill (who composed Mack the Knife among many, many other things) wrote an opera with words by Arnold Sundgaard called Down in the Valley. The opera uses several folk songs to tell its story, along with a few songs composed specifically for it. This opera is in English and is very short, at only 35 minutes. So much for the “uncultured classes” of William Thoms, huh?
Here are some of the lyrics of Down in the Valley.
Down in the valley
Valley so low
Hang your head over
Hear the wind blow.
Hear the wind blow, dear
Hear the wind blow
Hang your head over
Hear the wind blow
If you don’t love me
Love whom you please
But throw your arms round me
Give my heart ease
Give my heart ease, dear
Give my heart ease
Throw your arms round me
Give my heart ease
Roses love sunshine
Violets love dew
Angels in heaven
Know I love you
Know I love you, dear
Know I love you
Angels in heaven
Know I love you
Bird in a cage, love
Bird in a cage
Dying for freedom
Ever a slave
Ever a slave, dear
Ever a slave
Dying for freedom
Ever a slave
Write me a letter
Send it by mail
Send it in care of
The Birmingham jail
Birmingham jail, love
Birmingham jail
Send it in care of
The Birmingham jail
That is only a small sample of all of the lyrics for this “simple” folk song. As I said at the beginning, there are as many different variations of this song as there are people who sing it.
Do you have a favorite version of this song? Like me, did you learn it in kindergarten? Tell me your story in the comments below. I’ll be posting this and some of my other favorite folk songs this week on my Minnich Music Facebook page, so be sure to check those out.
Until next time!
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