Sue - 'Extension of thought'
Basically it is the idea that, rather than just seeking to 'entertain' with a good tune and fine poetry, a singer is using the song to express their own emotions and opinions. I was introduced to the idea through the work we did with MacColl in the Critics Group, but later, when we started to collect, found this was common with a number of 'big' traditional singers (ie those with large, traditionally based repertoires which had been acquired from family and neighbours), the three main ones being Walter Pardon of Norfolk, Tom Lenihan of West Clare and Mikeen McCarthy, a Kerry Traveller.
Mikeen furnished us with full descriptions of the characters in his songs and the surroundings in which the action took place, none of which was contained in the song text.
Walter pointed out the areas in his neighbourhood where he envisaged the action of some of his songs taking place (The Pretty Ploughboy; the opening sequence of Van Dieman's Land).
In all the cases where we got this information, we were left with the impression that the songs were not just pieces that had been learned to be performed, but had become part of the singers lives and being relived rather than remembered; MacColl referred to this as 'emotion memory'.
It was difficult to attempt to gather this type of information without making the singer self-conscious, but we did such work over a great length of time; in Mikeen's case, over thirty years, with Walter and Tom, between 15-20 years.
My reason for becoming involved with collecting in the first place, was that I believed that we knew virtually nothing about traditional singers and why they sang. I know some work has been done, mainly in the U.S., and there are flashes of such involvement by singers here and there in recordings and manuscript collections, but nowhere near enough to give us a reliable picture.
My doubts about singing songs in a language you are not familiar with are simply that it virually impossible to make this sort of connection with such songs unless you understand, not just the general objective of the songs, but the nuances and significance which is contained in them. You can perform them successfully as 'nice tunes' well executed, but for me, this would be superficial.
I think I still have some of the early Topic records of Scots, English and American singers singing in German, Russian, Yiddish and Mandarin Chinese!
Jim Carroll