We know from Flora Thompson's account, reproduced in The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, that participants in a particular pub did absorb newer material over the passage of time, and that younger singers preferred the newer stuff, while the old boys stuck to things like 'The Outlandish Knight'. On the other hand, Jim is not the only one who will tell you that traditional singers, when asked the question, did differentiate between the older songs in their repertoire and the newer ones, often placing a higher value on the older repertoire.

And, talking of 'The Outlandish Knight', I notice that higher up this thread an anonymous Guest, who was otherwise correct in saying that songs have often borrowed verses from one another, put forward the idea that this ballad stole its 'Parrot Coda' from 'Young Hunting'. The same theory was advanced by, coincidentally, another anonymous Guest in
this thread about the BBC Cecil Sharp initiative. I did think I'd managed to debunk it there, but it still seems to be flapping around on its broken wing. Sorry, but it ain't so.