Yeah, Kevin: There's definitely some truth to Dick's comments, and it's well worth refreshing. With folk songs, I think it may be a little more fifty-fifty. I've heard borring versions of great folk songs, and they took so much away from the song that it was hard to listen to. Any song, folk or otherwise is dependent upon interpretation. If someone can come up with a song that nobody could possibly ruin, I bet someone else could come up with an example of someone who did.

There are umpty-million folk songs that I think have a "definitive" version:

Here are a few: Clarence Ashley's The Cuckoo
                  Mississippi John Hurt's John Henry's Hammer
                  Peg Leg Howell's Coal Man Blues
                  The Carter Family's (Pick your top fifty)
                  Emry Arthur's Man Of Constant Sorrow
                  Bozie Sturdevant's Ain't No Grave Can Hold Me Down

I could go on until the cows come home. Maybe even a few minutes after that. Maybe people are hesitant to mention folk songs in here because we all DO value the songs, and are reluctant to pick a "definitive" version. Someone already expressed discomfort the term because it could be taken to mean that no one else should do the song. That's completely contrary to folk music, in my mind.

Jerry