As most of your reply, Jim, is going over old ground repeated endlessly elsewhere I'm passing over it. I'm quite happy with the many people who agree with my findings, but I do find it interesting that you don't.

However, in view of Mike's comments and your expansions I'm also happy to distance myself from Barry. I was trying to be generous, if misguided on this point. Obviously I don't fully disagree with the final summing up phrase of memory over invention. But even here Barry misses an important point, the 'invention' part is what happens in the oral process.


"the occasional scribbling of retired old people" (paraphrase),

I do strongly object to your paraphrasing though. I have never written anything like this or implied it. One of the last farm workers I recorded a couple of years ago had a wealth of his own wonderful songs about his own life written in his youth. The thing is they were never likely to enter oral tradition for only he and I knew about them. Jim, if you're going to quote me in future I'd be obliged if you'd use my actual wording in context.