A few verses of “The Parting Glass!” I dearly love this traditional Irish and Scottish folk song-  And here I’ve included a sweet verse that’s often excluded about the narrator’s sweetheart (at least, I don’t hear it very often over here in the U.S.). 

An English folk song about inequality and the enclosure of the commons, dating back to an 18th-century poem. It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when a great deal more land was held in common for the benefit of the community.

The first few verses of the Irish folk song “Moorlough Mary.” This song has been credited to a poet named James Devine of Loughash, Donemana, Co. Tyrone, c. 1876. I learned this version from the singing of Paddy Tunney. This song circulated through much of northern Ireland in the form of ballad sheets, and has been sung to various tunes.

“Satan, your kingdom must come down,” is a folk song from African-American church and spiritual traditions.

Here are the beginning verses of “Na Ivana Kupala, Kupavsya Ivan,” or “На Івана Купала купався Іван.” A Ukrainian song for Midsummer, from the Chernihiv region. This song tells a story that takes place on Saint John’s Day, or Midsummer.

“Sumer is Icumen In” is a Medieval English folk song dating back to the mid-13th century and one of the oldest known seculare songs in the English language.