I agree with you, Don.

I am not now nor ever have been a folksinger. I doubt I ever will be. Because of that I really dislike being labelled as one. I would not be ashamed to be labelled as one were I one.The music I write is rock or pop or protest or . . . . Thassit.

When I do go to folk clubs I seldom hear folk songs. People don't know all that many of them. I may know two or three and when I do sing them in a performance I do introduce them as folk songs whose authors are dead and gone. However, not to listen to material simply because the author is known denotes a listener who uses note pads less than a 1/4" wide because that's how narrow the mind of the listener is.

I will and do accept the 1954 definition, but then why not accept it? I also don't give a rat's ass about it. Either I like specific songs or I don't. The criterion for me is the song, not the origin.