Shimrod,
I am convinced that our songs not only were made by 'the people', but they came from and reflect the experiences of those same 'people. Otherwise they are no different to the writings of Patrick O'Brian, Alexander Cordell and Nigel Tranter - all of which I have read and enjoyed at one time or another, but believe to be totally different from our songs.
If these are the imaginings of Broadside hacks (from Hackneyed) then they lose a significant part of their importance and we have to re-think our entire attitude to them.
It makes my teacher's 'creation is not for the likes of me' and Emrich's 'memory not invention' spot-on, and leaves us with having created nothing.
I wonder what next - do we put the Lascaux cave paintings down to the work of a firm of reputable interior decorators
Jim Carroll