New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs

One of the Spectator''s Books of the Year 2012

''Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladies
Farewell and adieu to you ladies of Spain
For we''ve received orders for to sail for old England
But we hope in a short while to see you again''

One of the great English popular art forms, the folk song can be painful, satirical, erotic, dramatic, rueful or funny. They have thrived when sung on a whim to a ha...