Trad. Arr.

Whenever you see the words trad. arr. on a song credit, it means that a tune of (often) uncertain origin has been hijacked/borrowed by a group or artist and re-jigged to suit their own vision. There's no one waiting in the wings for a royalty cheque, and if the song has survived the test of time, it has to be good: try these corkers for starters.

Many trad. arr. tracks carry the watermark of folk music, the dominant popular genre in the days before rock 'n' roll: hence its appeal to artists who enjoy connecting to a musical heritage that stretches back decades, even centuries, rather than mere weeks. Richard Thompson's "Blackleg Miner" has its roots in old Northumberland.

These days Scarborough is, to borrow a phrase from Morrissey, the seaside town that they forgot to close down. But in the late medieval period, the place held a summer gathering of international repute. Here, we give you the Marianne Faithfull version of "Scarborough Fair", in which a man sets his ex-lover a series of impossible tasks.

If there ever was an Essentials list that leaves you with the certainty that music is timeless and universal — a lifeline that connects past, present, and future — then this is it. Here, some of the finest artists of the 20th century breathe new life into tunes written long before they were a twinkle in anyone's eye, whether it's Thin Lizzy cranking up "Whiskey in the Jar" (probably written in the 17th century) or Fairport Convention's jangly take on "Matty Groves", a gripping ballad of adultery and death.