Cap'n
From some singers points of view, it may well be that the background to a song is unimportant, but as has been pointed out, this is not the case with all singers.
For many, myself included when I was still singing, it was an essential part of learning the song and a great part of the enjoyment.
It was quite often a part of our interpretation of the song.
Quite often, if you did not understand references in the songs, it meant that you were singing gibberish and led to some of the things you would find in the mondergreens list.
One of the pleasures for Pat and I was to find out the secret of the broken token songs - do know how to break a gold ring in half - try it sometime?
My favourite quote on the subject comes from page 1 of Wimberly's 'Folklore in the English and Scottish Ballads:
"An American Indian sun-dance or an Australian corroboree is an exciting spectacle for the uninitiated, but for one who understands something of the culture whence it springs it is a hundred fold more heart-moving."
All this beside, you presented a piece of information that failed to take in the whole picture, which could, if it was accepted, mislead people. As Volgadon has said "why post information which you don't really believe in or think is true?"
Jim Carroll