leadfingers,and everyone else,this is my point,that we dont bother ourselves with the definition but just sing that which we want to sing.
who cares whether buddy holly is folk or not,personally I dont want to sing his songs.
but since some people on this forum want to define folk songs as being songs that have been folk processed,why not include Hitler has only got one ball,and call it a folk song.,or the Wheelbarrow song.
trouble is leadfingers,no one will come and pay good money to hear any of us sing those songs,Because they are crap songs even if they have been folk processed,so we need a new yardstick to judge songs by and that is quality,not whether a song has been folk processed.
there is dross among the tradition,but generally those songs have been forgotten,the songs that have survived have something that appeals to most of us,they either are well written or have good melodies or both.
occasionally revival artists have found old songs then rewritten them or rewritten the melody and improved them.
here is why I like the songs I sing,I like them because they have good words and or good melodies,it is not because they have been folk processed,although they often have,however the modern songs often havent,does that affect their quality,not necessarily.
modern songs do not have to be folk processed for them to be good songs.
so if we define folksongs as songs whose sole ingredients are they are songs that have been folk processed,we start to include songs not based on their quality,the Wheelbarrow song maybe fine for NoTts County fans to sing[EITHER when Sven gets his leg over]or at what they[County fans] call a football match,but its not fine to sing at a folk club or festival.
so logically, if we are no longer singing folksongs[wheelbarrow song] at folk clubs we have to call folk clubs something else.