There are three different types of song; popular, folk and art songs. The first of these are the types of song heard on the radio, which make the charts and are hugely commercial. Art songs by contrast are written for their own sake, and frequently have the lyrics and music wrote separately by different composers. Folk songs are usually of unknown origin and have been passed down through generations.
The term was coined in the 1900s and refers to the origin of the song, as it was often attributed to the working classes, learned by rote and passed along by word of mouth. The original authors of these songs is often unknown.
An annotated musical composition written for vocal and often written to stand alone, without being employed within a musical or an opera. A composer can reinvent folk songs into art songs, and art songs can become folk songs once the author of the piece has long been forgotten.
Often abbreviated to the term 'pop song' these are believed to be of basic composition and carry a wide appeal. Pop songs also have the potential to become folk songs if listeners learn and distribute a composition in their own style.
As we can see the line between art songs and folk songs, and folk songs and pop songs is a very blurry one, and they often can and do overlap. Most art songs are classical compositions written by the likes of Brahms, Liszt and Schubert, while most folk songs address social and political topics, the most prominent purveyors of the genre are Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie and most recently Bob Dylan. While Frank Sinatra, Doris Day and more recently Madonna are considered to specialize in popular songs.
