Desperately trying to avoid the invective and spleen, is there any mileage in the idea that great human catastrophes often don't produce many songs in the folk tradition? I know of no songs about the Black Death (though Death and the Lady reflects attitudes that may have developed as a consequence), the 17th century plagues (except, just maybe but probably not, Ring-a-ring-a-Roses), the Fire of London (except London's Burning), the Eyam plague, the Bristol Channel tsunami, the Lancashire famine (17th or 18th? century- except a folk tale from Bolton-le-Sands about Pea Soup Year)...

Perhaps shock and despair don't inspire people.