The 40 Best Traditional Folk Songs, from Scarborough Fair to Shenandoah

What is the most famous traditional folk song?

"Scarborough Fair", "Greensleeves", "Danny Boy", "Shenandoah" and "The House of the Rising Sun" are among the most famous traditional folk songs in the English-speaking world. Most traditional songs have no known writer: they were shaped by many singers over centuries, and the versions we know today were often collected or recorded in the last 150 years.

English and Scottish ballads

1. "Scarborough Fair", England: an old riddle ballad made famous by Simon and Garfunkel in 1966.
2. "Greensleeves", England: a 16th-century melody, wrongly but popularly credited to Henry VIII.
3. "Barbara Allen", England and Scotland: a tragic ballad mentioned by the diarist Samuel Pepys in 1666.
4. "The Water Is Wide", Scotland and England: a tender song of love and longing.
5. "Early One Morning", England: a gentle, much-loved song of heartbreak.
6. "Matty Groves", England: a dramatic ballad recorded by Fairport Convention in 1969.
7. "Tam Lin", Scotland: a ballad of fairy enchantment and a brave rescue.
8. "Loch Lomond", Scotland: a beloved Scottish song, a staple of ceilidhs and pipe bands.
9. "The Skye Boat Song", Scotland: Bonnie Prince Charlie's escape over the sea, and the theme of Outlander.
10. "Auld Lang Syne", Scotland: Robert Burns' words set to a traditional tune, sung every New Year.

Traditional Irish folk songs

11. "Danny Boy": Frederic Weatherly's words set to the traditional Londonderry Air.
12. "The Parting Glass": a farewell song once sung at the end of a night, now a favorite at funerals.
13. "Wild Mountain Thyme": a lilting love song from Scotland and Ireland, popular at weddings.
14. "Molly Malone": the story of a Dublin fishmonger and the city's unofficial anthem.
15. "She Moved Through the Fair": a haunting, ghostly love song.
16. "Down by the Salley Gardens": W.B. Yeats' poem set to a traditional air.
17. "The Star of the County Down": a jaunty song of love at first sight.
18. "Whiskey in the Jar": an outlaw ballad later recorded by Thin Lizzy and Metallica.

American and Appalachian folk songs

19. "The House of the Rising Sun": a New Orleans lament that the Animals took to number one in 1964.
20. "Shenandoah": a 19th-century song of the American frontier and the river of the same name.
21. "Wayfaring Stranger": a spiritual folk song about a traveler heading home.
22. "Tom Dooley": a North Carolina murder ballad that the Kingston Trio took to number one in 1958.
23. "Man of Constant Sorrow": an Appalachian song revived by the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?
24. "Black Is the Color (of My True Love's Hair)": an Appalachian love song with Scottish roots.
25. "Red River Valley": a cowboy song of farewell.
26. "Down in the Valley": a simple, slow song perfect for beginners.
27. "Pretty Saro": a lonesome love song collected in the Appalachian mountains.
28. "Cotton-Eyed Joe": a fiddle tune and square-dance favorite.
29. "Frankie and Johnny": a story song of love and revenge.
30. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot": an African American spiritual sung around the world.

Sea shanties and work songs

31. "Drunken Sailor": the best-known shanty, sung while hauling ropes.
32. "The Wellerman": a New Zealand whaling song that went viral on TikTok in 2021.
33. "Leave Her, Johnny": a shanty sung at the end of a long voyage.
34. "Blow the Man Down": a rollicking sailing song.
35. "John Henry": the legend of a steel-driving man who raced a machine.
36. "The Midnight Special": a prison song made famous by Lead Belly.

More traditional folk songs to know

37. "The Ash Grove", Wales: a graceful Welsh melody known in Welsh as "Llwyn Onn".
38. "The Cuckoo", England and America: a song sung on both sides of the Atlantic.
39. "Lord Randall", Scotland: a question-and-answer ballad that inspired Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall".
40. "The Lark in the Morning", England: a cheerful country song of springtime.

What is a traditional folk song?

A traditional folk song is one that was passed on by ear, from person to person and generation to generation, rather than written by a known composer and sold as sheet music. Along the way, singers changed words, swapped verses and adapted melodies, which is why most of these songs exist in many versions. Some, like "Danny Boy" and "Auld Lang Syne", pair a traditional tune with words by a known writer, but they have become part of the tradition all the same.

The Child Ballads and the song collectors

In the late 1800s the Harvard scholar Francis James Child gathered 305 English and Scottish ballads, with their many variants, into The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, and singers still refer to songs like "Barbara Allen" and "Tam Lin" by their Child numbers. In the early 1900s the English collector Cecil Sharp traveled through the Appalachian mountains and found many of the same ballads still being sung there, and later Alan Lomax recorded thousands of American folk, blues and work songs for the Library of Congress.

The folk revival

In the late 50s and 60s, young musicians fell in love with these old songs. The Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley" topped the charts in 1958, Joan Baez built her early albums on traditional ballads, Bob Dylan learned old songs before writing his own, and Simon and Garfunkel turned "Scarborough Fair" into a hit after Paul Simon learned it from the English singer Martin Carthy. In Britain, Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span set the ballads to electric guitars, and Jethro Tull carried folk themes into progressive rock (see our Jethro Tull songs). For more, see our Bob Dylan songs and Paul Simon songs.

Traditional folk songs for a wedding

"Wild Mountain Thyme", "The Water Is Wide" and "The Ash Grove" are lovely choices for a ceremony or a first dance, and "Star of the County Down" and "Cotton-Eyed Joe" are fun for a ceilidh or barn dance. For more, see our Irish wedding songs.

Traditional folk songs for a funeral

"The Parting Glass", "Danny Boy", "Shenandoah", "Wayfaring Stranger" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" are among the most moving songs for a funeral or a wake, and "Loch Lomond" and "The Skye Boat Song" are often played on the bagpipes. For more, see our Irish funeral songs.

Folk songs to sing around a campfire or with kids

For a campfire singalong, "Drunken Sailor", "The Wellerman", "Red River Valley" and "Down in the Valley" are easy for everyone to join in on, and for kids "Cotton-Eyed Joe" and "Molly Malone" are fun to learn. For more, see our kids songs and Irish drinking songs.

Easy folk songs to play on guitar

Folk songs are perfect for beginners because many use only two or three chords. "Tom Dooley" and "Down in the Valley" need just two, "Red River Valley" and "Drunken Sailor" are simple three-chord songs, and "The House of the Rising Sun" is a classic first fingerpicking pattern. For more, see our easy guitar songs.

A new song for an old tradition

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