What Is A Ballad?

Ballad

A ballad is a simple song or poem that tells a romantic or sentimental story.  When you sing a song such as “Casey Jones” or “John Henry,” you are signing a ballad.

A ballad is a simple song or poem that tells a story.  Ballads are often songs of romance and songs of praise about heroes and events.

No one knows when ballads were first made up, but they were sung by European poets hundreds of years ago.

These early ballads were known in many places simply as songs, tales, and duties.  The ballads were passed along from one generation to another, and finally no one remembered who first sang them.

Often the tune and the story told by the ballad stayed the same, but the words were changed.

Sang old British ballads as models, Americans, for example, created popular ballads about such Western outlaws as Jessie James and Billy the kid.

No one knows for certain, in many cases, if what the ballad tells is true or is just a fanciful tale made up by the singer.–Dick Rogers

What Are The Arabian Nights?

The Arabian Nights is a collection of about 200 stories, which includes such famous tales as Aladdin’s lamp and the magic carpet.

Arabian Night

Did you ever hear the stories about Aladdin’s Lamp, the Magic Carpet or Sinbad the Sailor?

These colorful tales are part of a collection of famous stories called the “Arabian Nights.”  Another name for it is ‘A Thousand and One Nights.’

According to legend, these stories were first told to a sultan of the East by his beautiful wife Scheherazade (she hair a zod).

The sultan hated women.  Each day he would marry a different queen.  The next day he would have her killed.

When he marries Scheherazade she saves her life by telling fascinating stories.  Day after day the sultan put off killing her because he wanted to hear the next story.

For a thousand and one nights she told one story each night.  The stories pleased the sultan so much that he made Scheherazade his queen forever.

Of course, the story of Scheherazade is not true.  No one person made up all the stories in the ‘Arabian Nights.’–Dick Rogers