folk song
Folk songs often pass from person to person across generations. This topic is part of Song Types within Music. This page currently draws on 8 supporting questions, with answers and bonus facts available below.
folk song trivia questions
A folk song is traditionally associated with what?
Answer: A community or cultural tradition
Bonus fact: Folk songs often pass from person to person across generations.
How were many folk songs transmitted before widespread recording?
Answer: Orally
Bonus fact: Melodies and lyrics changed as people learned them by ear.
What does it mean when a folk song exists in many variants?
Answer: Different communities or singers changed words or melodies over time
Bonus fact: Oral transmission naturally creates variation.
In many folk songs, what follows each verse?
Answer: Refrain
Bonus fact: Repeated refrains make songs easier for groups to join.
In what year was 'The Country Gentlemen Sing and Play Folk Songs and Bluegrass' originally released?
Answer: 1961
Bonus fact: Smithsonian Folkways identifies it as the first album by the lineup later called the 'Classic' Country Gentlemen.
Which traditional English folk song gives the album "John Barleycorn Must Die" its title?
Answer: John Barleycorn
Bonus fact: The old song personifies barley and the process of turning grain into alcoholic drink.
What musical tradition did the Animals adapt when recording "The House of the Rising Sun"?
Answer: A traditional folk song
Bonus fact: Their electric arrangement helped turn an old folk ballad into an international rock hit.
Simon & Garfunkel adapted "Scarborough Fair" from what kind of song?
Answer: Traditional English folk song
Bonus fact: The ballad existed in many versions long before the duo recorded it.