And if folk song had developed in the same way - if new songs were being written which could sit 'seamlessly' in between The Banks of Primroses and The Plains of Waterloo, or between Rigs of the Time and Hard Times of Old England, then we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Interesting comment, Phil - and begs the question whether such songs exist but aren't given any credit.

We had a band from Kent at our "club" (for want of a better word) last Monday. They've been going for over 40 years and one or two of the members have written songs which have been absolutely accepted in clubs all over the country - also for around 40 years. A couple of months ago we had Roger Bryant from Cornwall drop in to a local singaround and - naturally - we had a rousing chorus of "Cornish Lads", which you'll find in the Mudcat Archive here. You'll also find it referenced on the Cornish culture website - sandwiched between "traditional" songs...

So where does one draw the line?

The problem with shoehorning a song into becoming a cultural construct is that the actual song as a piece of music gets lost in the baggage. Thank heavens tunes are so much more immune from all that.