Folk songs for discussion
This collection lists folk songs that contain themes suitable for discussion lessons in English.
The songs are organised by level, with a more specific topic and a broader theme for each song.
Other song resources:
Song books and song lyrics
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Songs for English pronunciation
Level 1
| Song | Topic | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| It's a long way to Tipperary | NOSTALGIA places | HOMES & HABITATS |
| My bonnie | LOVE separation | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Hello Goodbye | LOVE troubles | UPS & DOWNS |
| Sailing | NOSTALGIA sailing | UPS & DOWNS |
| Kum Ba Yah | SPIRITUAL do right now | UPS & DOWNS |
| Michael row | SPIRITUAL do right now | UPS & DOWNS |
| This old man | WARMUP counting | UPS & DOWNS |
| Animals went in two by two | WARMUP counting | UPS & DOWNS |
| One man went to mow | WARMUP counting | UPS & DOWNS |
| Ten green bottles | WARMUP counting | UPS & DOWNS |
| Ten in a bed | WARMUP counting | UPS & DOWNS |
Level 2
| Song | Topic | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| One man's hands | PROTEST | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| What did you learn in school? | PROTEST | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Where have all the flowers gone? | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Ebony & Ivory | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Red river valley | NOSTALGIA places | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Little Boxes | PROTEST freedom | HOMES & HABITATS |
| When I first came to this land | TROUBLES solutions | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Leaving on a jet plane | GOODBYE love | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Where are you going my pretty maid? | LOVE courting women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| And I love her | LOVE loving women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| All my loving | LOVE separation | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Yesterday | NOSTALGIA | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Santy Anno | NOSTALGIA sailing | UPS & DOWNS |
| Yellow submarine | NOSTALGIA sailing | UPS & DOWNS |
| All my trials | SPIRITUAL better to come | UPS & DOWNS |
| John Brown's body | SPIRITUAL better to come | UPS & DOWNS |
| Nobody knows the trouble I see | SPIRITUAL better to come | UPS & DOWNS |
| Swing low sweet chariot | SPIRITUAL better to come | UPS & DOWNS |
| Worried man blues | SPIRITUAL better to come | UPS & DOWNS |
| We shall overcome | SPIRITUAL do right now | UPS & DOWNS |
| When all the saints | SPIRITUAL do right now | UPS & DOWNS |
| Down by the riverside | SPIRITUAL do right now | UPS & DOWNS |
| Turn turn turn | SPIRITUAL do right now | UPS & DOWNS |
| Hey Jude | TROUBLES solutions | UPS & DOWNS |
| Let it be | TROUBLES solutions | UPS & DOWNS |
| Oh, Susanna | WARMUP | UPS & DOWNS |
| Going to the zoo | WARMUP | UPS & DOWNS |
| She'll be coming round the mountain | WARMUP | UPS & DOWNS |
| Drunken sailor | WARMUP | UPS & DOWNS |
Level 3
| Song | Topic | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| What have they done to the rain? | PROTEST | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| If I had a hammer | PROTEST | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Show me the prison | PROTEST equality | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Marvellous toy | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Blowin in the wind | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| H-bomb's thunder | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Universal soldier | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Last night I had the strangest dream | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| March with us today | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Johnny, I hardly knew you | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Gypsy rover | PROTEST freedom | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| She's leaving home | PROTEST freedom | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| This land is your land | NOSTALGIA places | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Down the lane | NOSTALGIA places | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Streets of London | PROTEST equality | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Old mother earth | PROTEST freedom | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Banks of Ohio | CRIME passion | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| I'll never find another you | LOVE | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| First time ever | LOVE | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Oh, no John | LOVE courting women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Shenandoah | LOVE courting women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Sweet nightingale | LOVE courting women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| My lady's a wild flying dove | LOVE loving women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| I've just seen a face | LOVE loving women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Annie's song | LOVE loving women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| I give you the morning | LOVE loving women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Colours | LOVE loving women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Leaving London | LOVE separation | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Water is wide | LOVE troubles | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Girl | LOVE troubles | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| I should have known better | LOVE troubles | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| I don't know how to love him | LOVE troubles | UPS & DOWNS |
| Morning has broken | NOSTALGIA | UPS & DOWNS |
| Cockles & mussels | NOSTALGIA | UPS & DOWNS |
| Freight train | NOSTALGIA places | UPS & DOWNS |
| Sloop John B | NOSTALGIA sailing | UPS & DOWNS |
| Beans, bacon & gravy | PROTEST freedom | UPS & DOWNS |
| Nowhere man | TROUBLES | UPS & DOWNS |
| Deep blue sea | TROUBLES | UPS & DOWNS |
| I can't help but wonder | TROUBLES | UPS & DOWNS |
| All night long | TROUBLES | UPS & DOWNS |
| Now I'm easy | TROUBLES solutions | UPS & DOWNS |
| Wild rover | TROUBLES solutions | UPS & DOWNS |
| Clementine | TROUBLES solutions | UPS & DOWNS |
| We can work it out | TROUBLES solutions | UPS & DOWNS |
| Moonshadow | TROUBLES solutions | UPS & DOWNS |
| Hippies & the beatniks | PROTEST freedom | WORK & LEISURE |
Level 4
| Song | Topic | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| Lag's song | CRIME punishment | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Times they are a-changing | PROTEST equality | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Rider pass by | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| No man's land | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Hard rain's a gonna fall | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Imagine | PROTEST fraternity | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Free born man | NOSTALGIA | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Country roads | NOSTALGIA places | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Dirty old town | NOSTALGIA places | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Fiddler's green | NOSTALGIA sailing | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Skye boat song | NOSTALGIA sailing | HOMES & HABITATS |
| When the ship comes in | NOSTALGIA sailing | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Going to the west | GOODBYE love | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Last thing on my mind | GOODBYE love | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Darlin Annie | LOVE | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| What the poet called her | LOVE courting men | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Maids when you're young | LOVE courting men | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| I'm a rover & seldom sober | LOVE courting women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Rosalie | LOVE courting women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Wild mountain thyme | LOVE loving women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Early one morning | LOVE troubles | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Down by the Sally Gardens | LOVE troubles | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Foggy dew | NOSTALGIA | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Ramblin' boy | NOSTALGIA | UPS & DOWNS |
| Housewife's alphabet | PROTEST equality | WORK & LEISURE |
| Banks of marble | PROTEST equality | WORK & LEISURE |
| Net hauling song | WORK celebration | WORK & LEISURE |
| Miner's wife | WORK protest | WORK & LEISURE |
| My old man | WORK protest | WORK & LEISURE |
| Come my little son | WORK protest | WORK & LEISURE |
Level 5
| Song | Topic | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| Gilgarra mountain | CRIME romantic villain | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Thirty foot trailer | NOSTALGIA | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Sunday supplement world | PROTEST equality | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Little girl child | PROTEST equality | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Swansea town | NOSTALGIA sailing | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Leaving of Liverpool | NOSTALGIA sailing | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Don't think twice | GOODBYE love | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Four strong winds | GOODBYE love | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Talking want-ad blues | LOVE courting men | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Squire of Tanworth | LOVE courting men | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Wish I had a troubador | LOVE loving women | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Nine month blues | LOVE troubles | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| She moved through the fair | LOVE troubles | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Sweet Thames flow softly | LOVE troubles | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Auld lang syne | GOODBYE celebration | UPS & DOWNS |
| I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail | NOSTALGIA | UPS & DOWNS |
| Blow the man down | WARMUP | UPS & DOWNS |
| Work of the weavers | WORK celebration | WORK & LEISURE |
| Shoals of herring | WORK celebration | WORK & LEISURE |
| Come fill up your glasses | WORK celebration | WORK & LEISURE |
| I'm gonna to be an engineer | WORK protest | WORK & LEISURE |
| Diggers' song | WORK protest | WORK & LEISURE |
| Poor Paddy works on the railway | WORK protest | WORK & LEISURE |
Level 6
| Song | Topic | Theme |
|---|---|---|
| Legal illegal | CRIME justice | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Alan Tyne of Harrow | CRIME romantic villain | EDUCATION & SOCIETY |
| Joy of living | GOODBYE love | HOMES & HABITATS |
| Angela Davis (Love for love) | LOVE | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Ramblin man | LOVE courting men | LOVE & MARRIAGE |
| Both sides now | TROUBLES | UPS & DOWNS |
| Nuclear energy means jobs | PROTEST freedom | WORK & LEISURE |
| Manchester rambler | PROTEST freedom | WORK & LEISURE |
| Ballad of accounting | PROTEST freedom | WORK & LEISURE |
| Daddy what did you do in the strike? | WORK protest | WORK & LEISURE |