Ah, but suppose it became clear old Bert had inserted the odd verse, or indeed made whole songs around, say, a discovered song title and got a taste for period songwriting. Would it matter? Not a jot. Some might suggest they could no longer be described as traditional but the song would remain identical.

As for Sinister, I find him a vision of clarity compared to those who insist a song has qualities by the mere expedient of it being old. Qualities apart from oldness that is.