For many years I struggled to understand just what it was about these folk songs that so outraged the establishment: J. Edgar Hoover; Joe (drunken) McCarthy; the various state and federal investigative committes.

I now realize it was, or is, not these songs themselves, but more what they represnt. They represent several things beyond great opportunites for community singing and comadraship. They are also the vocal expression of unhappy people. People who have suffered great travails. People who seek better times.

It kind of makes me think of what I term "the ostrich effect." If we don't sing about it, or don't talk about it, maybe the problem doesn't exist, or at least will go away!

Of course that is just one, very simplistict, answer. There are many more: many of these songs such as "Banks of Marble", that were real rallying songs. You only have to briefly think of the rallying songs of the I.R.A. to understand the power of folk music. By the same token, without intending any religious offense, just think of the power of "hymns" ... eh?

What are your thoughts ... bob(deckmna)nelson