Judy Cook, Folksinger

The Foolish Boy (Swapping Song)

Author: Traditional

Source: Childhood. also in Sharp.

Notes: Olive Dame Campbell collected this song from a schoolgirl at Hindman,in eastern KY in Dec 1907. Olive Dame Campbell was an American Folklorist. With her husband John, she traveled to Appalachia in 1908-9. John had received a grant to study the area's social and cultural conditions in hopes of improving their school systems. While there, Olive noted that ballads sung by the residents had strong ties to both English and Scots-Irish folk songs. The ballads that she collected would eventually be published as English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians by Cecil Sharp and Olive D. Campbell in 1917. This collection would later influence several productions, particularly the 2000 drama film "Songcatcher." In 1925, Olive founded the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina.