I’m looking for a nice CD of old English ballads, one with some Robin Hood songs on it. (It could be a collection of RH ballads, or just miscellaneous songs with one or two thrown in.) I’m having a hard time finding much of anything–do any Dopers have good suggestions?
[url=]Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore,
galloping through the sward,
Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore,
and his horse Concorde.
He steals from the rich,
he gives to the poor,
Mr Moore, Mr Moore, Mr Moore.
Ahem . . .
Here you are:
Who can forget Richard Greene foiling the Sheriff?!
Of course this leads onto the probable apocryphal tale of a soon to be married couple asking for “that tune from Robin Hood” to be played at the church service. Instead of getting Everything I Do, I Do It For You, they get “Robin Hood , Robin Hood …”
They would count themselves lucky then.
*With the strength of ten
Weak and bony men
Fighting for his life
With a rubber knife*
These are all lovely but I was hoping for real, old, English ballads. Nobody knows about those any more than I do, I guess. 
I don’t think they sing about Robin Hood but this is my friends group. They do (according to the website):
Sacred music from all eras (particularly Renaissance), and Secular music from Mediaeval rounds, through to Madrigals, Folk Song arrangements, Romantic partsongs, Spirituals, Comic Songs and Close Harmony arrangements of Pop Songs and the American Songbook.
the Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode is one of the earliest books printed in English, and it must have been popular even then for the publisher to take a header on it.
http://www.lib.rochester.edu/CAMELOT/TEAMS/gest.htm
Tunes, will be mostly conjectural, of course
“All English folk music is either bad, or Irish.” G.B. Shaw (allegedly).
Search on “Cecil Sharpe” for proof or otherwise that Shaw was wrong.
They laughed, they loved, they darnk, they fought, they jumped a lot of fences.
They robbed the rich, gave to the poor - except what they kept for expenses.
Yes, it’s the splendid [url=http://www.cfhf.net/lyrics/when.htm] When Things Were Rotten , and why, oh why is this not available on DVD?
Then, of course, there’s the also excellent {“Never assume anything, Gisborne, save the occasional air of intelligence.”} Robin Of Sherwood’s “Robin - aah aah - the Hooded Man”
My coding was rotten, for a start: *When Things Were Rotten *
This site is an excellent source for information on Robin Hood, including a few ballads and links to other sites which contain more. Happy searching.
Not sure if this is what you’d be looking for but these are genuine English Rebel Songs by modern band Chumbawumba, the lyrics are here - you can see one song makes reference to Robin Hood.
For something more swashbuckling romance I love this guy, Vaughan Williams - I love driving thro’ the English countryside listening to his stuff - I can see medieval hunting parties go by, all Errol Flynn and Olivia de Haviland 