 |
a podcast... and weblog section for folk music and online folklore (see the weblog front page for Bob's "Other Journalism")... and, no, this isn't about "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," unless as pod-folklore.
|
 |
 |
Sunday, November 13, 2005 |
A nifty article about the power of search engines on news websites just
inspired me to send its author a note about a site I've used off and on
since the dawn of the Web, the Digital Tradition database and music
site at http://www.mudcat.org
The site includes a database of lyrics to 9,000 songs, and a discussion
forum where, among other things, people ask each other
what-was-that-song kinds of questions.
You can search the lyric collection, the discussions, or both.
The links in the search results are sometimes funky, but when it works
it's a joy... especially since some of the old folkies who recorded the
songs 30 years ago actually take part in the discussions! (The
funkiness includes sometimes getting one link to a "message" and
another to a "thread," and finding that the message link goes to the
wrong topic, but the "thread" link gets you to a list including the
message you wanted.)
The lyric database has its own old-fashioned equivalent of what the
information scientists metadata tagging. The volunteers who compiled it
(starting in the '80s, I think) added keywords to the songs, so you can
search for "@Irish" or "@Bawdy" or "@deadbaby." (Yup, these include
real old ballads and folksongs, not just singer-songwriter stuff;
plenty of old lovers coming back from the sea, etc.) The "@" indicates
a keyword in the database, not just a word in a lyric. Searching
for @parody can be fun.
Mudcat even has some "click to play" midi melodies attached to its song
lyrics, increasing the danger of having families sit around the
computer playing "folkaraoke." And we used to think hootenannies were
hazardous!
(Sorry, despite my original intent,
I'm still too busy to include podcast
audio on this site as a regular thing--or even post here very often. The good news is that you're in no danger of
hearing me sing along with something. However, I think putting up more of my 25-year-old folksinger photos will be my Christmas
present to myself, and any visitors. And if I do get around to the audio podcast you won't have to listen unless you really want to.)
1:38:16 PM 
|
|
© 2005 Bob Stepno
Last Update: 12/16/05; 1:38:25 PM
|
|
|
|
|
| November 2005 |
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
| |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
| 6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
| 13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
| 20 |
21 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
| 27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
|
|
|
| Oct Dec |
|
|
|
|
|
|