Biography

With a gentle yet unyielding demeanor and a crooner’s voice, folk-troubadour Burl Ives, dubbed “America’s Great Ballad Singer” by Carl Sandburg, notched many a classic during a career that spanned six decades. After riding the rails through the '30s, he would eventually become a mainstay of the tightly knit NYC folk scene of the ‘40s & ‘50s; however, his cooperation with Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee, to save himself from being blacklisted, would make him a pariah for decades. Ives also made his mark as an understated actor, winning an Oscar for his role in 1958’s BIG COUNTRY. Yet, for many, Ives's eternal link is to Christmastime as the voice of Sam the Snowman, narrator of the annually re-run 1964 television special, RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, containing his standard “A Holly Jolly Christmas.”

Top Tracks

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• A Holly Jolly Christmas

• A Little Bitty Tear

• Barbara Allen

• Big Rock Candy Mountain

• Big Rock Candy Mountain/aunt Rhody/the Fox

• Blue Tail Fly

• Bringing In The Sheaves

• By The Light Of The Silvery Moon

• Chim Chim Cheree

• Comin' After Jenny

• Cotton-eyed Joe

• Darlin' Cory

• Delia

• For Me And My Gal

• Frankie And Johnny

• Funny Way Of Laughin'

• Go Tell It On The Mountain

• Got The World By The Tail

• Green Grass Of Home

• Happy Birthday Jesus (a Child's Prayer)

• Home On The Range

• Hush Little Baby

• I Wonder As I Wander

• It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

• John Hardy

• John Henry

• Lavender Blue (dilly Dilly)

• Leather-winged Bat/cotton-eyed Joe

• Mr. Froggie Went A-courtin'

• O Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie

• O Happy Day

• O Little Town Of Bethlehem

• On Top Of Old Smokey

• Polly Wolly Doodle

• Pretty Polly

• Prisoner's Song (midnight Special)

• Raindrops Keeps Falling On My Head

• Riders In The Sky (a Cowboy Legend)

• Roving Gambler

• Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer

• Shoo Fly

• Silent Night

• Silver And Gold

• Silver Bells

• Sweet Betsy From Pike

• Swinging On A Star

• The Big Rock Candy Mountain

• The Blue Tail Fly

• The Erie Canal

• The Fox

• The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year

• The Old Rugged Cross

• The Riddle Song

• The Sailor And The Crocodile

• The Tailor And The Mouse

• The Very Scary Witch

• The Wayfaring Stranger

• The Worried Man Blues

• The Young Man Who Couldn't Hoe Corn

• Tumbling Tumbleweeds

• Wayfaring Stranger

• White Christmas

Discography

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• Burl Ives Sings

  CBS Records

  1995

• Favorites for Children

  Shout! Factory

  1974

• Songbook

  MCA Coral

  1973

• Sings the Great Country Hits

  Decca

  1968

• Chim Chim Cheree & Other Children's Choices

  Disney

  1964

• Scouting Along With Burl Ives

  Columbia

  1963

• Burl Ives' Animal Folk

  Disneyland

  1963

• The Versatile Burl Ives!

  Decca

  1962

• The Times They Are A-Changin' [CBS]

  CBS Records

  196?

• Cheers

  Decca

  1959

• Australian Folk Songs

  Decca

  1958

• Songs of Ireland

  Decca / Hallmark

  1958

• Burl Ives Sings for Fun

  Decca

  1956

• Coronation Concert

  Decca

  1956

• Down to the Sea in Ships

  Decca

  1956

• The Wayfaring Stranger

  Collectables

  1955

• The Wayfaring Stranger [Cherished]

  Cherished Records

  1955

• Women: Folk Songs About the Fair

  Decca

  1954

• Folk Songs Dramatic and Dangerous

  Decca

  1953

• Ballads and Folk Songs, Vol. 1

  Decca

  1950

• Ballads and Folk Songs, Vol. 2

  1950

• Ballads Folk and Country Songs

  1950

• More Folksongs by Burl Ives

  Columbia

  1949