Definitely agree on your point about making changes while clueless as to the original "feel" of a song, Bill D. One that really gets me gnashing my teeth is the recent up-tempo Bluegrass version of Man of Constant Sorrow, with the repeated last line of each verse in third person. The first time I heard it done this way was in the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou." Now, I'm hearing other people sing it that way (learning it from the movie, I guess).   

Well . . . I guess that's the "folk process" (sigh). But as Dr. David Fowler, an English professor of mine who taught a course at the U. of W. called "The Popular Ballad" said, "The folk process does not always improve a song." And he went on to give some horrible examples (e.g., a haunting ballad like The Three Ravens morphing into Billie Magee Magaw).

Don Firth