At the Old Songs fest in Altamont NY, I saw a woman come out and announce that her next song was "collected in the Adirondack footrhills in the late forties" and that "noone knows where it came from." She then proceeded to sing "The Farmer's Boy" which Ian Robb had done at least four times already that weekend, complete with a description of its origins. Her deer-in-the-headlights reaction when half the crowd sang along with her was hysterical.

Having cruelly mocked someone who's probably very nice, I must protest abuse of amateur singers. People who perform at folk clubs and songwriters groups should be given a pass for having the guts to do it. Abuse people like Dylan who don't seem to care about their performance when an audience is paying a huge sum to see it.