I think if truth be known, we all come to where we are, by a roundabout route. If we went a more direct way - we'd get there too early.

I don't see much hatred going on, on mudcat. A bit of silliness from people who feel they have some bailliwick to defend, but it all makes for hours of brainless fun, in the end.

The songs that really drew me into folk music where the songs of contemporary writers. I grew up in Lincolnshire in the 1950's and there were rocket sites pointing at Moscow all over there. The thought that someone across the other side of the world had written What did you learn in school today? and Where have all the Flowers gone etc. made me want to be part of the resistance to what was going on.

I thought folksingers were really cool, because every one I knew - their grandads had fought in the first world war, their dad's in the second, and we grew up thinking that world war 3 was inevitable.   Eveyone in my village and at my grammar school, was accepting it, everyone except these guys on the radio singing what (in my ignorance) thought were folksongs.

personally I'm really sorry it all turned into songs about stuff long ago and dance tunes no one much dances. I thought it was better before.

I'm not sure what I would say - from the singing of Malvina Reynolds. from the singing of Pete Seeger, from the singing of Tom Paxton. It was mainly Seeger, but also the Kingston Trio - in fact everyone sang those songs. That's how they became folksongs, better known than what they tell me are real folksongs.