Jack Campin
    the first quote you quoted from my post is misplaced. My comments did say respect for songwriters is essential- it referred to the two tunes in question and nothing else.
    The second quote you use is equally pointless. Your response only stresses your preference for the written word. I said that I doubt very much whether the tune 'composers' were 100pc original, but quite probably crystallised into written form material which already existed in some form. There ARE no written antecedents, it was in the tradition already. You seem to believe because it's written down, it is the definitive version, and I DON'T, that's all.
Also the fact the there actually was a Mrs McLeod of Raasay is again irrelevant. We can't ask her, nor can we ask Bonaparte whether he wrote his 'Retreat'on his way home.
The name means NOWT- Iain McLachlan played a lovely Scots tune (whose name escapes me- maybe your books will tell you?)- it's no less lovely because it's now called the 'Dark Island'.
On the current drift of the discussion, I sometimes attend a singing circle near Sligo, where English songs are often sung- singers there seem to feel no need to specify where songs come from, it tends to be CD/concert publicists are more guilty of the chauvinism under discussion,.