Hi Richard - you hit the mail on the head. I was partly wondering why - in the largely traditional singarounds I’ve attended - certain non-traditional songs ‘make the grade’ and I wondered what others were regularly hauled out for a mauling in clubs and sessions around the country. What is it about them that is different to all the hundreds of other composed ‘folk songs’ that could have been chosen? I’m not really interested in the songs someone heard or performed once, but songs that have entered the folk club canon. Hence ‘Bring us a Barrel’ or ‘January Man’ as examples. I’m even (especially!) happy to add unmentionables that have been sung all too often to the list!

NB I suggested songs from the 1950s -1970s as a loose timeline of the heyday of British folk clubs, but yes, it is fairly vague and arbitrary!