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Folk Song Subject & Master Index

Thesaurus

 
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Results

 
  • Welcome to the Folk Song Subject & Master Index.

    • To begin a search for folk songs, either select a subject term from the thesaurus on the left by clicking the small plus symbol, or begin typing a term into the search box and select from the drop-down list. Then hit the search button.
    • This is a master index, and so it will show one entry per folk song (as based on the Roud number). This will contain a synopsis and historical notes for that song. If you wish to see variants of the song as found in our other indexes, then click on the Roud number.
    • You can search for up to five subject terms at once using the advanced search feature. The default search will include narrower terms, e.g. a search for "Horses" will return different types of horses too, e.g. Shire horses. There are also "related terms" and "Low-weighted terms" which you can decide to include or exclude using the tick boxes next to the search box. To explore Broader, Narrower, or Related Terms, try browsing the Thesaurus on the left hand side. For more information on how to make the most of these terms and the other search features, see our Search and browse tips.
    • This resource is a work in progress. There are over 30,000 Roud numbers in existence, and this index contains approximately 500 song entries. Index terms have usually been selected from a single version of the song, but we hope to include subject terms for song variants soon.
    • Currently, the subject terms selected are related to the content of the song, and not its purpose, i.e., it is claimed that the song The Cutty Wren was a political song dating from the Peasants' Revolt, but since the song does not allude to politics, then the subject term "Politics" will not be included.