dear jim ,as a matter of fact I sing in the bath as well.
individuals own arrangements of tradional songs,not quite the same trhing as owning the song,in the case of Scarborough Fair,Martin Carthy owned a particular guitar arrangement , Paul Simon was forced to acknowledge this,quite right too, the arrangement was Carthys work,even if ths song was traditional.
JIM,I make unconscious changes to songs over the years,some of them quite radical, eg the singing of The Greenwood laddie,in a different time signature[Ididnt realise I had done this until someone pointed it out]it just seemed thats the way it should be.
the tradition is far from dead, in fact in my opinion its very much alive,and will be all the time singers and musicians like myself,perform /or sing, whether its while im in the bath ,or milking my goats, or performing in a folk club.
my advice to you is to do some vocal exercises,and start singing again ,its great fun.