Sailing to Philadelphia.

[Globalti]

Been listening to this Mark Knopfler song off his album by the same name. It's the story of the Mason-Dixon line, which was surveyed in North America in the 1760s to settle a territory dispute. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_dixon_line

It's one of my favourite ballads of all time, probably equal to Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. If it wasn't for singer-songwriters who take inspiration from these events they would eventually fade from memory and be forgotten.

Any other "historical" ballads you would recommend?

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Mark Knopfler's "Song for Sonny Liston" is pretty good. I also like John Renbourn's rendition of a song about John Franklin (can't remember the title), the Arctic explorer. I'll post more as I think of them.