How come ain't nobody but Ray Padgett giving it out for Ewan MaColl? Yes I know he could be tiresome and dictatorial, to say nothing of argumentative. And I'm also aware of just how far away my ideas on folk music have moved from MacColl's since the days when I used to imbibe every single word he said without question.

But he was a true pioneer with a list of achievements which would dwarf those of practically everyone else in folk music. Plus it's in the nature of the present to argue with the past. If MacColl hadn't made such bold pronouncements in the first place, where would that have left those of us who came after him?

Plus, there's Bert Lloyd of course, and Alan Lomax and Hamish Henderson and many many more.

Then there's that tall stringy fella with the adam's apple. Oh yeahh, Pete Seeger. Now where would any of us be without him?