I've decided to put a page together where I collect humorous items related to folk and traditional music. I know there are a lot of sites that have humour of a general musical nature, such as Garrison Keillor's Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra and collections of instrument jokes like "why are violas larger than violins?" (Answer: They're not, they only look that way because the violinists' heads are bigger.) At some point I may add some links to such sites, but they are not too hard to find anyway. What I wanted to have here is items concerned with folk and traditional music, which are not so well represented elsewhere.

Pat O'Reilly's 2000 years of Irish music

A twisted chronology, requiring a detailed knowledge of Irish music to understand most of the jokes.

Famous folk songs as reported by English tabloid newspapers

The results of a long-ago competition in Folk Roots magazine. Requires a good knowledge of the folk song tradition and the low end of British journalism.

Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall

Also known as Ten Green Bottles, a new discovery suggests that this song may have annoyed parents taking their children on pilgrimage to Canterbury during Chaucer's time (between cries of "Beest wee there yette?").

Research results on Waltzing Matilda

Readers of the Sydney Morning Herald contribute unlikely speculations on the background of Australia's well-known folksong. You need to know the words.

Offsite humour:

• Just Plain Jokes, humour distributed regularly by our friend Steven Cushing, who likes to have his picture taken with inanimate human-like objects. You can sign up for regular mailings.
• A Takeoff on Grout's "History of Western Music"

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