Vic,
An excellent analogy from the old master. I don't agree with Bert on everything he wrote or said, but I'm 100% with him on this one.

raymond,
Jim is not all that knowledgeable on local traditions in the north. Of course the Geordie tradition of songs and singing is just as valid as say The East Anglian traditions or the Bothy Songs. The facts that most of them have known authors and they largely come from an urban environment are irrelevant to this discussion.

Yes, these songs were made widely known on the folk scene by the H L Ranters and others, but then, and probably even now to a lesser extent, were being sung in the pubs and w m clubs of the NE.