ABSTRACT
The relationship between traditional folksong and commercial activity is rapidly becoming a productive area for scholarly study. One aspect of this which has previously been neglected is the burlesquing of traditional songs. Burlesque itself is a well-recognised form of entertainment in terms of higher forms of literature, but it also forms an important aspect of oral tradition. Although the initial burlesque is normally of a product of commercial entertainment, often the burlesqued original and the burlesque continued side by side in oral tradition. This study also looks at the possibility that some traditional ballads started out as burlesques of the whole ballad genre.
