"Off with his head! He's murdering the time!" All the same, time has gone on, and so have those songs.

The only recordings I have that sound at all like those performances are those of Richard Dyer-Bennett, whom I have enjoyed for 60 years but who does seem a bit precious by now. Still, if people have to sing songs that way in order to take them seriously, that's better than not singing them at all.

It could be worse. It could be rock and roll.