well its certainly a very widely used term, Jim. Whenever I hear it used - I never really know what to expect - I've heard the old Alfred Noyes poem - the Highwayman - described as 'being in ballad form'. So like someone said, about the very old ballads - maybe they weren't necesarily even intended to be sung.

My point was that it really is a bit of a catch all term - it tells you virtually nothing.

incidentally Stuart Gilbert in his book about Joyce's Ulysses has some insights ino the Icelandic/Viking ballads. He talks about them being performed by 'bareserks' in a trance - that's how they performed for three days on end. apparently the audience were pissed as rats also, and this saided their powers of concentration - or presumably indifference.