Steve,
"I have to disagree with you over the English language songs not being mostly ballads. They are. They are also 90% 'broadside ballads'."
I wasn't counting broadsides as ballads - I think the term refers to a method of production rather than a description of a type of song.
The Travellers' programme (on RTE's Lyric FM at 3-30 this afternoon) is devoted entirely to Mikeen McCarthy, a 'ballad' seller from Kerry, who gave us a great deal of information on the trade, and he made it clear that what he put on his ballad sheets ranged from 'The Blind Beggar' ("a best seller, that one") and 'Early in the Month of Spring' to 'Little Grey Home in the West' and 'Did Your Mother Come From Ireland'.
The question of broadsides and their relationship to the oral tradition is an incredibly complex one. Sure, the old singers used them, but it certainly wasn't a simple case of them lifting the song straight off the sheet unaltered; the question of personal taste, skill and literacy abilities were very much part of what happened to the song after it 'left home'.
Regarding your comments on lyrical songs coming from ballads - surely we classify the songs on what they have become rather than how they started out?
The truth is that we have very little information on the subject; Bob Thomson did some great work in the UK and John Moulden in Ireland, but apart from that I believe that any work done has concentrated on production and distribution rather than influence.
Dick G is right when he says, "There is a vast body of lyric songs on both sides of the pond that do not narrate stories. ", at least, I believe that to be the case in the US and Ireland, (though it is hard to be 100% firm on this about Ireland, as much of our impression of the Irish repertoire is based on the present song revival which, in my opinion has greatly neglected its extremely rich narrative repertoire in favour of the lyrical one).
However, the English and Scots traditional repertoires are strongly dominated by narrative songs, most of which do not fall under the category 'ballad' as far as I'm concerned.
'Guest' from the posting above (but one) sums up my feelings about the ballad perfectly.
Jim Carroll