Folk songs are songs that were almost certainly made, but were definitely taken up, sung and adapted by 'the folk' (sorry - another dictionary definition) -ie the 'common' or 'ordinary' people. They acted not only as entertainment, but as reflections of the experiences, emotions and ideas of the people who made them and the communities that accepted and transmitted them. They were composed in such a universal manner as to not only circulate in the communities where the originated, but were taken up and adapted by other communities - hence 200 plus versions of Barbara Allen!!!)
It is this that makes them unique and underlines their importance.
The manner of their transmission and because those who made and transmitted them were almost certainly illiterate, they were virtually all anonymous compositions, or were so changed from their original forms (whatever that may have been) as to be untraceable; they became common property; this is what gives them their 'folkness'.
They are inseparable from their companion genres of folklore ('common' practice and belief) and folktales (the oral literature of the 'common' people).
Not only are folk songs anonymous, but there is no evidence that they were even started by one individual - we know of at least two which were begun by groups of people (one made by Irish Travellers and another by a group of fishermen in West Clare). On both occasions the singers we got them from were unable to remember who began to make them up in the first place (they remembered the incident but not the participants).
I often wonder why many singer/songwriters are so desperate to label their compositions 'folk' especially as so many of them are in the forefront of those claiming that definitions are unimportant.
Perhaps if they removed their names from their songs and didn't copyright them they migh make the grade..... but I won't hold my breath!
Jim Carroll
PS Schubert wrote songs and died - traditional??? Don't think so really.