Dick, you are way out of your depth! Nobody has a problem with anyone expressing an opinion, but in the case of the internet, unless you know someone personally, or have followed their postings over a number of years, you can't tell the difference between someone who is simply blowing hot air and someone who has carried out numerous in-depth studies, unless of course you have done those in-depth studies yourself.
Nick may know who you are but I'm quite sure Bob doesn't. In persisting to argue against people who have spent a lifetime studying this you are beginning to show the same characteristics as another person we both know!

Here's a little tip. Go back up the thread to Joe's post 7th Oct, 4.13 and look at the bottom of the post. You will see three initials in bold type. Then choose any other song in the Digital Tradition and follow the same process. You will see the same 3 initials at the bottom of that post (and many thousands of other entries) Guess whose initials they are!

Oh, and just in case you haven't noticed, Nick is also a published writer on the history of folksong, and highly respected amongst other folksong researchers.

It would be helpful to casual readers here if after giving your opinion you add something like, 'BUT I haven't done any research on the matter.'