"She's Like the Swallow" (
Roud
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...
2306) is a
folksong
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
from
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
. According to folklorist Neil V. Rosenberg, the song "appears never to have been widely known and sung in
oral tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985 ...
" and the popularized version of the song differs significantly from the attested folk versions.
The song was first collected by ethnomusicologist
Maud Karpeles
Maud Karpeles (12 November 1885 – 1 October 1976) was a British collector of folksongs and dance teacher.
Early life and education
Maud Pauline Karpeles was born at Lancaster Gate in Bayswater, London, in 1885. She was the third of five child ...
in 1930.
References
{{reflist
Birds in popular culture
Canadian folk songs
Culture of Newfoundland and Labrador