Ballad

A ballad is a story in a song, usually a narrative song or poem. It is a rhythmic saga of a past affair, which may be heroic, romantic or satirical, political (affected by the previous three types mentioned, refers to either glorifying the exploits or causes of a particular leader or group, and is typical of totalitarian political systems), almost inevitably catastrophic, which is related in the third person, usually with foreshortened alternating four- and three-stress lines ('ballad meter') and simple repeating rhymes, and often with a refrain.

Famous ballads

• Traditional
• Ballad of Jesse James
• Ballad of Chevy Chase
• Barbara Allen
• The Battle of Harlaw
• The Battle of Otterburn
• Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair
• The Cruel Brother
• Golden Vanity
• The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry
• The Greensleeves (Greensleeves)
• Henry Martin
• John Barleycorn
• Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier
• Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight
• Lord Randall
• Lovely Joan
• Lyke-Wake Dirge
• Mary Tamlin
• The Mines of Avondale
• Shenandoah
• Many ballads of Robin Hood
• The Scarborough Fair (Scarborough Fair)
• Sir Patrick Spens
• Tam Lin
• The Three Ravens
• Thomas the Rhymer
• The Gypsie Laddie
• Verner Raven - oldest Scandinavian ballad with music
• Modern
• American Pie
• Frankie and Johnny
• House of the Rising Sun
• The Devil Went Down to Georgia
• Ballad of the Alamo
• Ballad of the Green Berets
• Ballad of Davy Crockett
• Where Were You? (When The World Stopped Turning)
• The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins
• Morning Bell