Oops, that last post didn't work!

Yes, folkiedave, I wasn't suggesting there was anything wrong with reworking a song. In fact, usually the song comes out the better for it. However, to rework a song extensively and then claim to have collected it, as Lloyd has certainly done and MacColl may have done, is a bad policy. Not only is it inherently dishonest, it makes it harder for people like Brian Peters and me, who care about such things, to sort out what was in the tradition and what wasn't.

To those folks who don't care, fair enough...but for their purposes, the reworkers might as well admit what they are doing. For ours, it's much better if they admit what they are doing. No one's life is improved by the deception.

As sins go, this a very minor one, as we'd all admit.

Brian, a link to a more complete, and fully accessible, version of my article has been added to the Reynardine thread by Malcolm Douglas. Handy fellow, Malcolm!