I just think that Hugill's sources are very important historically and that it would be a tragedy for social history, if not for folk singing, if the original realities or possibilities were lost altogether. I don't necessarily want to sing them, but I'm curious to know and I don't want my knowledge to be filtered by essentially pre-60s notions of propriety.

As regards normal folk club renditions I think we could now push the boundaries *a little further* than what was thought acceptable in 1960. For example, I sing a version of the Liverpool Judies which Hugill admits to editing.

My version is basically the one given in Hugill, except that I sing the Mudcat version (http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=3653) of verse 6 which mentions the "pox" and may be closer to the original (or not). I appreciate this might shock some people but I'm prepared to risk it.

Hugill's verse 7, however, is perhaps closer to the original than the Mudcat one, and might only require replacement of the word "throat" by something more appropriate. However, I think that might be going too far for the average folk club...

Stormalong