Publication does a doubtful service to folk songs .it preserves them;
but it preserves them dead,like stuffed animals in a museum,it brings them to a wide audience,but this includes so many of the wrong people,from school teachers,to hill billy addicts.the wrong people are those who are bent on taking folksong out of its natural surroundings.

Dave ,you misunderstand me ,of course I am not against books. neither have I ever said I am

Sorry Dick, clearly I made the mistake of believing what you had written.