[78-L] Ruby are you Mad at Your Man

[David Sanderson]

soundthink at aol.com wrote:
> The term "ballad" has changed much over the years. Today, people
> think of it as meaning a song with a slow tempo. In folkloristic
> terms, it means any song that tells a story.
> 
> Cary Ginell

Yes, a ballad has to have a plot, at least in traditional music.  The 
term that I picked up from the folklore people for pieces like "Ruby" is 
"lyric song,"  coined I think to cover especially all those songs 
assembled in one way or another from floating verses.  The confusion 
with the pop "ballads" doesn't help in categorizing things, either, 
since it is indeed generic for slow pieces in general.  I find it 
amusing that a good number of pop standards did in fact originally have 
plot or situation in their verses, but the verses have gotten lost and 
all we hear is what was originally the chorus - "Shine on Harvest Moon" 
is a good example.

-- 




      David Sanderson
      East Waterford, Maine

      dwsanderson685 at roadrunner.com
      http://www.dwsanderson.com