I mostly agree with your sentiments, Will. I don't like the romanticising of what were generally dirty, hard jobs, but the odd song about "rural pastimes" I can cope with....as a young friend who I took to a singaround said "They're *all* just about sex, aren't they?".

I hate the really upbeat "bouncy" way some people do "Poverty Knock" for instance....they make it sound like mill work was really jolly and good fun, whereas if you listen to the words, a totally different image comes across. My mother *was* that "poor woman" the shuttle gives a clout to....she had a broken badly set finger, a deep scar on her forehead and a groove in one forearm, all courtesy of loom shuttles.