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Ah, so "It was pleasant and delightful on a midsummer's morn
When the fields and the meadows were all covered in corn" isn't "obvious"?

After 25 years in and around folk music I thought one of the endearing characteristics was that the words are often nonsense.

Must be the "great tune" bit I missed. I could listen to "Shepherd's Hey" all day, myself. I'm sure you're the same.

It is no wonder that folk music is so marginalised when many of those people who claim to care most about it so often make it as exclusive, elitist and as closely-defined as they possibly can.

Billy Bragg: accepted as folk (be it ever so grudgingly). Working class hero, sings some political stuff. Amplify the instruments and make it a bit louder: oh, it's dismissed as thump thump thump, no tune you can whistle and you can't hear the words.

Meanwhile, millions of ordinary people get on with their ordinary customs, music, and day to day life, failing to realise that they no longer qualify as "folk".