Songbooks

One of the many 19th century work songs, this one from the Irishmen who worked on the railroads.

This song has a calypso rhythm, but the melody is a variation on the English sea shanty 'Blow the Man Down'. It is thought to have been sung by the men loading the ships with rice, indigo and cotton a...

This song celebrates the victory of General Taylor over the Mexican Genreal Santy Anno in the war of 1846-48 for California. The subsequent Californian gold rush, when many sailors left the sea to go...

This is a river shanty about the Shenandoah River in Virginia, and has a typical call and response structure.

This song comes from the religious group the Shakers, which was founded in the 18th century by secession from the Quakers. The name refers to the contortions and movements they made dancing and singin...

This song was sung by the workers on the Erie Canal, which was built in 1816-25 and is 361 miles long, running from the city-port of New York to the Great Lakes.

American boats started fishing whales around Greenland in the 19th century.

This is an American version of a popular ballad which also has English, Scottish and Irish versions.

This was an extremely popular American folk song. It reflects the hardships of the early American settlers.

This is one of the oldest known lumberjack songs, dating from the 1840s, and and found in many different versions around North America, varying according to local traditions and conditions.

This is one of the most popular cowboy folk songs.

This was thought to have been sung by the Bahamian negroes working in Nassau Harbour where the ships were loaded with produce.

This is a marching song of the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (1861-65).

A simple love song calypso from Jamaica.

The origins of this song are not known for sure, but it became popular as an American Civil War song.

This popular folk song was first sung by the British during the American War of Independence (1775-83) to deride the American colonial revolutionaries, but was eventually adopted by the Americans them...