Let's get Joely to give us the working definition under which these songs have been self-designated "folk." When a term has lost its accepted meaning, it must be re-defined each time it is used. That is very awkward and time-consuming, which is why languages make use of accepted definitions. It's so much more convenient for communicating. However, the term "folksong" has recently been applied to such a wide variety of songs that it has become essentially meaningless. The old saw, generally attributed to Big Bill Broonzy by folkies, but to Louie Armstrong by the quotation dictionaries, that "it must be a folksong; I never heard a horse sing it," is silly. No one ever heard a horse sing an aria from an opera, either, but that doesn't mean that arias are all "folksongs."

All this is simply to ask Joely for a personal definition of the term as it is being applied here. That way, we can at least have an idea of what we're talking about.

Sandy